Let's Go Be Heroes
by jbn42
Summary: Kensi and Deeks do everything they can to rescue Callen and Sam while sorting through the changes in their world. A follow-on to my other story, Metaphors and Regrets.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note – I got a lot of lovely reviews, favorites and follows for **_**Metaphors and Regrets, **_**and I decided to do a "what happens next" – so this follows directly on the heels of that story. Reading it first will help a lot, just in terms of some references I will make.**

**Also, yes, some of the last lines are totally Bogarted from **_**Firefly.**_** I don't own that, and I certainly don't own these characters. No profit to be had here, just having a bit of fun with a show I love. **

**This will be multi-chapter, some stuff borrowed from a few scant rumors I've seen around the season premiere for the fall, the rest in my head. I'm not sure exactly where I'm going with this, and work will likely keep my updates somewhat slow. I'll do my best to aim for no less than weekly, though!**

Deeks rubs his oft-targeted upper arm as he follows Kensi into ops. She told him she owes him a dollar for, in her words, "The stupid jar when you get it," after she slugged his arm for what felt like at least the tenth time today. At least she didn't catch him off guard this time. He'd known it was coming before he owned up to her about Hetty offering him a job as an agent back before Romania.

The upside is that, in addition to noting her need to pony up her hit fine, she kissed him after hitting him this time, which made it seem somewhat less painful. He'd also seen a blush on her cheeks and a sincere apology in her eyes immediately after she hit him, and her instant regret was so palpable that he pulled her close to him and pressed a kiss to her temple as he murmured, "I had that one coming, Fern."

She'd shaken her head, and after mentioning the jar she added, "No more free passes for me, Marty. Only nineteen more dollars to dinner for you." He guesses that she thinks he didn't see the flash of hurt in her eyes, but he knows her better than she's ever given him credit for. He feels like a heel for not telling her about the job offer from Hetty before she found out another way.

As she waits for Deeks to follow her into the room, Kensi stares up at the big board in ops, her mind racing. She can't believe Hetty offered Deeks a job over three years ago. She also can't believe he never told her about it. The sting of that, irrational as it might be, runs through her. Wrapping her arms protectively around her midsection, she tries to make herself focus on Callen and Sam, as she knows they're what's important right now.

Deeks comes in and sees Kensi, and her body language confirms for him that he hurt her feelings. He curses inwardly, but he knows that now isn't the time to say anything. As he usually does in ops, he goes to her side, getting as close as he can. The thing that's different today is that he places a hand on her lower back, knowing she probably won't do anything to stop him.

When Kensi feels Deeks' hand on her, she looks up at him in surprise and a small amount of irritation at his never-ending willingness to invade her personal space even when her body language screams "back off." When their eyes meet she can see the contrition in his, and she feels a little bit of the irritation drain away. Her expression softens, and she gives him an almost imperceptible nod. He looks like he wants to say something – he usually looks that way – but he hesitates as they look into each other's eyes.

"You two done?" Granger's gruff voice makes them jump, and they look over to see him looking at them with one eyebrow raised and arms crossed across his chest. Behind him, Eric and Nell are staring at them as if they can both see that something is going on. Nell cocks her head at Kensi and gives her a questioning look, but Kensi just shakes her head.

Deeks recovers his voice first. "Yes. What do we have?"

A very tired-looking Eric nods at him and turns to the board. It's been a long day for all of them. The rest of them turn their eyes towards him, and Eric starts talking. "In addition to trying to work the drug angle, we have been digging into the harbormaster where the sub was moored. Something is hinky there. He has a significant number of gambling debts, and his finances are seriously in the red."

"What about the drugs?" Kensi asks this time.

Granger turns to them. "Nothing so far. Detective, you need to call Agent Del Campo."

Kensi sighs at that, and she feels the pressure from Deeks' hand increase on her back. Before he can respond to Granger, his phone rings. When he looks down at it, he rolls his eyes. "Or she could call me, sir." He hits the speaker on the phone to answer it. "Talia, you're on speaker in our ops center."

They hear the woman on the phone cough a little in surprise, but she regains her equanimity quickly. "Marty," Kensi scowls at the woman's use of his first name, "We've been getting reports from our street contacts for the last twenty minutes or so – a huge amount of coke has just flooded the market. I'm gearing up to go out on busts with our team, but it looks like they've definitely off-loaded a lot of drugs here. There's not much other explanation for it right now."

They hear Granger swear under his breath, and Eric and Nell turn to their computer terminals. Kensi reaches behind her to grab his hand on her back. "Agent Del Campo, do you or your people have any thoughts as to where the sub might be headed?" Kensi is proud of herself for keeping her voice calm and professional.

"I'm sorry, Agent Blye, we don't know. I wish we did." Talia sounds genuinely sorry, and Kensi nods even though the woman can't see it.

"We appreciate that and the update," Kensi pauses awkwardly and looks up at Deeks as if to ask him for help.

He squeezes her hand. "Talia, thanks, and be careful out there. If we find out anything of interest to the DEA in relation to the sub, we'll call you."

"Thanks, partn-, uh, Marty. We appreciate it. You all be careful too." Kensi swallows a smile at the way the woman stumbles a bit over the words.

"Thank you, Agent Del Campo," Granger cuts in, and with a nod, Deeks ends the call.

He looks at Granger. "Harbormaster?"

The man nods. "Harbormaster. Check back in after you two talk to him."

Kensi speaks for them both. "Will do. If he doesn't cooperate, though, we're dragging his ass to the boatshed."

Granger gives her an almost feral smile. "I rather imagined you would, Blye." Deeks snorts as Granger goes on, "When you two are done with him, report it in. If it's something we'll have to research or dig into, you two go home for at least six hours."

They both start to protest, but Granger holds up a hand. "It's not up for debate. We'll call if we need you, but you're no use to me if you're bleary eyed and exhausted. I'm even about to put one of these two," he motions to Nell and Eric, "Down for a nap."

Deeks, Kensi and Nell all roll their eyes at that, and Eric looks vaguely confused. Deeks guesses that he's the one who'll be sent to sleep first. Unable to resist, Deeks looks at his friend and says, "Do you still have your polar bear PJs in your locker?"

Nell laughs out loud while Eric wakes up enough to shoot Deeks an obscene gesture. Shaking her head and not liking that she's not in on the joke, Kensi turns on her heel and leaves ops. Chuckling lightly, Deeks follows close behind before Granger calls out, "And Detective, the papers. Signed and on my desk, Hetty's desk, before you leave."

Deeks blinks and just continues down the stairs after Kensi. She's at her desk shrugging into her jacket when he gets there. He opens the bottom drawer of his own desk and sees the folder there. Opening it, he has to smile a little to see that the papers are the same – he'd gotten a bit of coffee on the top page – except for the last page. The page with Hetty's signature is gone, now replaced with Granger's.

Also new is a short note in handwriting he doesn't recognize. It reads, "Detective – Assistant Director Granger cleared this all with me. This is my confirmation in writing that you are assigned to OSP once this paperwork is signed and that FLETC is officially waived. And for the record, AD Granger got this from me on the way back from Afghanistan. You did well there, Detective. You're an asset unlike any other on our team. Welcome, officially, to NCIS. AD Granger has your badge and gun. Leon Vance."

Curious, Deeks peers into the drawer where the folder was. "Holy crap."

Kensi comes over. "What?"

He just points into the drawer, and her eyes go to where he's pointing. In the bottom of the drawer, Kensi sees a Sig in a holster and a badge wallet. "Is that?"

"Think so." He passes her the note from Vance and drops into his chair, staring at the paperwork in the folder. He looks up at her and sees her eyes widen as she reads Vance's note. She finishes and her eyes meet his. He sighs. "Is it just me, or do I not have a choice here?"

Her expression of disbelief softens into sympathy. She crouches down in front of him, putting a hand of each of his knees. "Are you OK with this? You know you don't have to. You clearly didn't want to before."

He sighs again. "Kens, it's not that simple. It's not that I didn't want to. I just…I'm a cop. I'm a _good_ cop. It's all I've been for a long time – it's who I am. It's all I am."

She shakes her head. "No way. You are a hell of a lot more than that. If you were just a cop, you wouldn't be here. Hetty may not be my favorite person right now, but she knows talent when she sees it, and you have talent. You're a lot more than a cop."

He snorts and looks down at her hands on his knees. "Since when? I can't remember when I was anything else that was worth much."

"Marty, look at me." He is still for a moment before he meets her eyes again. "You are a great friend. You are the best partner I've ever had, and you're an amazing member of our team. To hear tell of it, you were a damned good lawyer. You are a great surfer. You treat your slightly odd, screwed up dog like a small furry person. You are a guy who would spend his Christmas at a soup kitchen surrounded by people who clearly know you, so _I _know that wasn't your first time there."

She pauses, taking a deep breath to gather her courage. "And you are my _best_ friend, the only person I want behind me in the field, the person I trust with my life and who I trusted with my mother's life. But more than that, I trust you with my heart. You _know_ how hard that is for me. But it happened, and I couldn't be happier. You have my heart, Marty Deeks." She laughs softly, and his stunned eyes look confused. "And I'll borrow your line now – how's that for communication?"

He blinks a few times and then he gets a small smile on his face. He turns slightly, blindly patting around on his desk until he finds a pen. He signs his LAPD resignation letter first, and then he signs the NCIS paperwork. He closes the folder and hands it to her, and she nods and takes it. He stands up as she carries it over to Hetty's desk and leaves it there. He assumes that Granger will send his resignation over to Bates, but Deeks also makes a mental note to call his soon-to-be former boss.

He bends down and picks up the new badge, he opens it and shakes his head to see his name and photo in it. He slips it into his pocket after taking his LAPD badge out and putting it in the drawer on top of the Sig. Kensi's voice is curious when she returns to his side. "You're not changing guns?"

He shakes his head. "Not until I've had time to check it over and use it on the range. I'm not going to be out there covering you with a new gun."

She leans up and kisses his cheek. "That's sweet."

He snorts and motions towards the door. "Come on, Agent Blye. Let's go be heroes."

She grins and heads out. "Big Damn Heroes, _Agent _Deeks?"

He laughs at her reference to one of his favorite TV shows. "Ain't we just, Fern?"

"And Deeks, in the car, you're telling me about Eric's polar bear PJs and why you know that he _has _polar bear PJs."

Opening the door for her, he says, "I can do better than telling you, Fern. I have a picture."

He waggles his eyebrows at her, and she leaves, him right behind her. "Oh, this I have to see."


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note – As noted in chapter 1, I got a lot of lovely reviews, favorites and follows for **_**Metaphors and Regrets, **_**and I decided to do a "what happens next" – so this follows directly on the heels of that story. Reading it first will help a lot, just in terms of some references I will make.**

**The first part of this is case, but the second part gets a bit fluffy. More case action will happen in chapter three, which probably won't be up until the end of the week due to work stuff (though I'll be on a plane late Tuesday and may not be able to sleep, so we'll see!). **

**No profit to be had here, just having a bit of fun with a show I love. **

**Thanks to all who favorited, followed and reviewed chapter one! It means a lot to me, and I appreciate all!**

"Who paid you?" Kensi slams her hand down on the table in the interrogation room of the boatshed, making the man in the chair on the "bad side" of the table jump. Deeks stands in the corner, leaning against the wall.

To a random observer, one would think he's completely relaxed and barely paying attention. Kensi is aware, however, just how deceiving looks can be. She knows that he's coiled like a spring, likely to take their unwilling witness out if he so much as looks at her funny. A year ago, it would have pissed her off to no end. Today, though, it just makes her feel powerful.

The harbormaster, seated at the interrogation table, was decidedly uncooperative when they questioned him, and he ended up trying to run from them. In making his escape, he'd shoved Deeks into a wall, knocking him off of his feet for a moment. She'd pulled her gun and taken off after the man, with Deeks circling around to cut him off in front of the building after admonishing her for leaving without him.

He'd caught up with them out front and basically clotheslined the guy, who landed hard. He'd started to try to get up again, only to be greeted by the sight of both a Smith & Wesson and a Sig right in his face. They'd zip-tied his wrists, loaded him in the back seat of the SRX and brought him here.

The man, named Ronald Cunningham, is fairly nondescript. Probably 5'9", brown hair, brown eyes, pale skin with a ruddy face that speaks of time in the sun. But his average height puts him about the same height as Kensi, and her clear anger and dislike of the man are making him cringe every time she gets near him.

So far, though, he hasn't given them anything – but Deeks can tell that they're close. Sweat stands out on the suspect's brow, and his eyes are darting every which way, clearly looking for a way out. For about the third time, he stammers, "I want my lawyer."

Kensi slams her hand down on the table again and stalks towards Deeks, her eyes completely calm and telling him to step in. He pulls away from the wall and goes to the table, turning the chair around and straddling it backwards, leaning forward to rest his crossed arms on the back of it as he eyes the suspect. He busts out his best relaxed-surfer drawl when he says, "Mr. Cunningham, here's the thing – I'm a lawyer, and normally, I'd be stopping this right now to get you counsel. But you have a problem, and that problem is an unidentified submarine that was illegally docked at an American port. Your marina, to be exact."

Deeks pauses for effect, and if Kensi wasn't trying so hard to maintain her badass, scary demeanor, she'd have snortlaughed. Deeks goes on, "The Patriot Act is in play now, Mr. Cunningham. We suspect terrorism here. A threat to American people on American soil. That gives us a lot of latitude." He knows he's pushing it, because right now all they really know about is the drugs, but he's playing a hunch. He just knows there's more at work here.

"What? Terrorism? No! They're drug guys, at least that's what they told me. I mean, I don't want anyone to get hurt; I was just trying to pay off my debts. There were a bunch of guys speaking Spanish, and then…" The man's eyes widen, and he starts muttering, "No. Oh shit. No, no, no…"

Deeks and Kensi exchange a look. Pay dirt. He looks back at Mr. Cunningham, who looks up at him, panic in his eyes. "I want a deal."

"That depends on what you have to say." All of the relaxed surfer persona is gone now, replaced with icy steel, his blue eyes glinting with anger and his body suddenly appearing intimidatingly large. If Kensi didn't know him as well as she did, Deeks' near-instant transformation would have startled her.

She forgets sometimes that while Sam is generally bigger – though about the same height - Deeks is also a very big guy, and one who is far stronger and more muscular than his seemingly lanky frame lets on. She knows there's more to him than the t-shirts and flannel show – she's seen him without them, felt the strength under her hands. She shakes her head slightly, inwardly scolding herself for letting her mind wander.

She steps towards the table. "Ronald, usted habla español, ¿no te?" She accuses him of being able to speak Spanish. "You understood something they said."

The man looks at her again, obviously realizing that he needs to fear both of them, not just her. He looks back at Deeks, and flinches at her now-imposing partner. "I know they offloaded whatever they had on the boat, and then some other guys showed up with crates of something. I don't know what it was, I swear."

"What did they look like, the new guys?" Kensi presses the man, not wanting him to stop now that he's going. "Did they look like the drug guys you saw, or were they different?"

He blinks. "Different. They were struggling with the Spanish, and then they started speaking in a different language. I didn't recognize it. But they were darker skinned, dark hair."

"African American?" Deeks speaks up this time.

"No," he shakes his head, "Lighter skin than that. Maybe Arab or Indian?"

Kensi looks at Deeks in surprise and puts a hand on her face as she thinks about this. Deeks isn't stopping, though. "Can you remember anything else? Names, cars, faces, smells?"

"Yes," the man nods, "I can give you descriptions, and," he pauses, clearly thinking. Deeks is about to prompt him again when he blurts out, "Fertilizer! I smelled something like fertilizer."

Kensi's and Deeks' eyes meet in alarm, and simultaneously, they say, "Shit."

Deeks looks down at the man. "Don't move. We have officers on the way who are going to take down the descriptions and take you into custody. But we have tape and know you helped. That won't be forgotten."

He nods. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to…"

Kensi frowns. "Save it. And stop gambling."

"Yes, ma'am." The man hangs his head, and if things weren't such a mess, Deeks might've laughed.

They leave as some other agents enter to get the man's statement and descriptions. Deeks tells one of them to get a sketch artist there ASAP, and they nod as they go into interrogation.

The screen in the room comes to life, and Granger appears with Nell in the background. "Good work, you two. We're running video footage from the area around the marina, and we'll start running the descriptions and also facial recognition if anything pings on the video that matches the descriptions. I've also already got Jones running the fertilizer angle, looking for large purchases or thefts. She and Beale will spell each other tonight. Now, it's after midnight. Go home, and be back here by no later than 7 a.m. I'll call you if we get something earlier."

At this point, they know better than to argue, so they just nod and head for the SRX. She gets behind the wheel, and before he can tell her to just drop him at home, she quietly asks, "Can I stay at yours? I've got my go-bag, and it'll be faster if we get called in."

He could flirt or make an off-color comment, but he realizes that she suddenly seems shy and unsure. Instead, he reaches over and squeezes the hand she has resting on the gear shift. "Works for me, Fern."

She gives him a small smile, and once she puts the car in gear, she reaches for his hand again, entwining her fingers with his. They drive in silence for a long time, almost getting to his apartment before she says, "Do you think they're OK?"

He squeezes her hand again. "Yes. I mean, it's Sam and Callen. They're _always_ OK."

She tries to laugh, but she can't quite manage it. "Their luck is going to run out sooner or later, Marty. From what Sam told me, they came close in Afghanistan when you swooped in like the damned cavalry. How many lives can they really have left?"

He swallows hard at her mention of Afghanistan. He knows he needs to talk to her about what he did over there; he knows it might make the load of it feel a little lighter – but he's not ready. "I don't know, but I have to believe that it's at least one more each, Kens. It sure as hell can't end like this. I mean, trapped on a drug sub turned floating bomb? Really?"

She pulls into a spot in front of his apartment building and turns the car off. She has to snort at that. "Well, when you put it like that, it does sound pretty ridiculous."

They climb out, Kensi grabbing her bag and locking the car behind them. He knows better than to try to carry her bag for her, but as they climb the stairs side-by-side, his hand goes to her lower back again. When he touches her, he's suddenly reminded of the last they actually spent the whole night together here. Arriving at his door, she looks at him, a faint blush high on her cheeks. It occurs to him that she was thinking about the same thing that he was.

Kensi is mortified, because she knows he can see that she's blushing. "Deeks, I didn't ask to come here to…I just, I didn't want…" she finds herself unable to find the right words.

He holds up a hand and leans forward to press a kiss to her forehead. "I know, Kens. And I didn't want to be alone either. Let's go inside, watch a little TV, and pass out. I have some leftover pizza, and I'll buy you donuts on the way to the mission in the morning." He grins at her. "I even have a _Top Model_ marathon DVR'd. I wonder who set that up?"

She laughs. "I needed to have something to watch when I'm over here. I made it record _Titanic_ too."

He unlocks the door and motions for her to go in ahead of him. "I know." Monty runs and greets them, basically ignoring Deeks and nearly knocking Kensi down. Deeks stands there, shaking his head while Monty gives Kensi a tongue-bath while she tries to gently push the enthusiastic dog away. "I see how it is, ungrateful canine."

"Marty, help me!" She sounds exasperated, so he grabs Monty's leash and clips it to his collar, pulling the dog off of Kensi.

She glares at Deeks, and he shrugs. "What can I say? He missed you, Fern."

She wipes at her face with her hands. "Marty, I was here for movie night _last week_. When do you think I programmed the stupid DVR?"

"Sorry, Fern. Dogs have no concept of time." He grins again. "I'm going to walk the beast. Pizza and beer are in the fridge."

She just shakes her head as he leaves, still chuckling, with Monty. She goes into his room and puts down her bag. Looking around, she sees that the bed is unmade, but she's surprised when she notices that the right side is relatively straight while the left side has clearly been slept in. It strikes her that he let her have the right side when she spent that night with him, just like he did when they were undercover as Justin and Melissa.

Blinking, she realizes that he must have never gone back to sleeping on the right side. For an unknown reason, that realization sends a rush of warmth through her. She shakes her head, deciding that she's making too much of such a small thing.

By the time he gets back with Monty fifteen minutes later, she has changed into some sweats from her go-bag, but with them, she's wearing one of his old LAPD t-shirts. She'll tell him it's because the t-shirt in her bag needed to be washed, but she knows he'll see right through her. When the door opens, she is curled into "her" end of the sofa with a beer in her hand. The warmed-up pizza and another beer are on the table. She's also using the cat pillow as an armrest. Ever since that night after Sidorov, she also thinks of that pillow as hers.

Monty goes to his bed and, after turning around three times, settles down with a huff. After hanging up Monty's leash, Deeks turns to Kensi. Another grin spreads across his face at the sight of her in his t-shirt. Instead of saying anything, though, he just goes to his room to change. A few minutes later, he emerges in sweats and another old LAPD t-shirt.

He settles at the other end of the sofa, and after a beat he says, "If you're going to steal my LAPD t-shirts, we should probably try to get a few more before Bates gets my resignation from Granger."

She stays silent, but a moment later he gets nailed in the shoulder by a flying cat pillow. He looks over to see her tune the TV to a _Top Model_ episode and dig into the pizza as if nothing just happened. He grabs a slice of pizza and mutters, "You owe another dollar."

She raises an eyebrow at him. "I do not!"

After swallowing the bite he just took, he argues, "How do you figure that, Fern? You just hit me."

"I did not _hit _you, Counselor. I threw a pillow at you. Our deal did not include projectiles." He opens and closes his mouth, speechless for once. She laughs and grabs a second piece of pizza. "And it was a pillow. A tiny little _cat_ pillow. Big baby." She leans over and kisses the place where the pillow got him, though, and she gives him a slightly apologetic look.

He shakes his head, and he chuckles a little. "What am I going to do with you, Fern?" He puts down his pizza and passes the cat pillow back to her.

She knows that's his way of telling her he isn't upset with her, and she smiles and snuggles into his side, one arm wrapping around his waist. They sit there like that for a short while, watching TV as they finish their dinner. After less than twenty minutes, he realizes that she's sound asleep next to him. He considers staying there on the sofa, but he knows they'll probably both be hurting in the morning if they sleep here.

"Kens?" His voice is soft as he tries to get her to stir. She just mumbles his name while moving closer to him. He doesn't want to startle her, but he also really wants to move to the bed where they can stretch out. He leans down and whispers in her ear, "Princess, I'm going to lift you, OK? Don't freak out, it's just me." He's worried that given her recent experiences in Afghanistan, scaring her could have some pretty nasty repercussions.

She nods sleepily, so he takes a deep breath and shifts enough to get an arm around her shoulders and another under her knees. He repositions her into his lap and stands up carefully, cradling her in a bridal carry. She blinks for a moment at the feeling of being moved, and he feels her tense slightly. He looks at her face, and he can see panic flash through her now-open eyes.

He quickly presses a kiss to her temple. "Fern, baby girl, it's Deeks. You're safe."

She mentally struggles for a moment, trying to clear out the panic and terror suddenly trying to take over. The feeling of being lifted unexpectedly made her feel out of control, something she never liked but likes even less now. But Deeks' voice cuts through that, and she focuses on him. She inhales through her nose, and she relaxes again at the smell of the beach and saltwater that always seems to follow him.

The fear lingers, but she manages to cling to him and mumble, "I'm good."

He takes that as permission to move, so he carries her to the bedroom and sets her down on the right side of the bed. He pulls the covers back, and she lifts up enough to help him work them under her and cover her up. He turns to go back to the living room, and she reaches out to grab his hand. "Where're you going?"

Her voice actually sounds a little hurt to him, so he drops to his knees next to the bed. He brushes a hand through her hair and leans in, this time dropping a gentle kiss to her lips. "Just to turn the lights off and turn off the TV. I'll be right back."

True to his word, a few minutes later she feels him slip into the bed on the left side. She instinctively moves towards him, and his arms snake out and pull her in close to his chest. Neither of them say anything, but as they drift off they're both thinking that it's going to be hard to sleep alone after this.

It feels like it's only minutes later when a ringing phone pulls them both out of sleep, and Kensi is puzzled when she realizes that the ringer she hears is the song from _How the Grinch Stole Christmas._ She feels Deeks grope towards his night stand, and after a second or two, he mutters, "What can we do for you, Granger?"

Kensi's fuzzy brain links up the ringtone and the caller, and she has to swallow back a laugh. While she listens to their low conversation, she grabs her own phone. She groans when she's sees that it's just past 4:30 am, meaning they slept for just over three hours.

She hears Deeks say, "OK, we're on our way, should be there before 5:30. We'll bring enough donuts for everyone," he pauses, "Trust me, Director, the donuts are a necessity."

When he hangs up, he looks at her. "Ronald's help panned out. We've got a line on one of the guys he saw at the marina."

She wakes up completely at that. "Does Granger have a plan?"

"Sounds like it." He rolls away from her and out of his side of the bed, staggering into the bathroom.

By the time he comes out a short while later, she is up as well. "Shower?"

He nods. "Yeah. I'll go turn on the coffee. You can go first."

"OK." She turns for the bathroom but pauses. "Marty?"

He looks up from where he's rifling through a drawer for something to wear. "What's up?"

She blushes slightly. "Go start the coffee, but you can join me in the shower if you want to." He goes a little slack-jawed in surprise at that, and she looks down. "Only if you want to. It's not a come-on, I just thought it would be…faster, and, you know, it's not like we haven't seen each other naked." She can't look at him, and the ensuing silence makes her want the earth to just open up and swallow her whole. "Sorry, never mind. I'll just be quick." She turns for the bathroom again.

He is stunned by her offer, but her last words spur him to action. "Wait, Kens." He catches her arm gently. When she looks up at him, he can see how embarrassed she is, and he can't stand it. He leans down and, cupping her cheek with one hand, presses a soft kiss to her lips. "That's a great idea, and I'd love to if you're completely sure. I just don't want you uncomfortable, Princess."

She looks into his eyes with a trust so absolute that he actually feels humbled by it. "I'm sure, Marty. Go do the coffee, and I'll start the water."

"Sounds like a plan, Fern." She nods and goes into the bathroom, and he hears the water start as he heads to the kitchen. Despite everything, he can't stop the goofy grin that he gets on his face as he checks the water level in his Keurig and flips it on. As he heads back to the bathroom, under his breath, he mutters, "Well, at least for today, looks like our Thing is going OK."


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note – No profit to be had here, just having a bit of fun with a show I love. **

**Once again, thanks to all who have favorited, followed and/or reviewed! It means a lot to me, and I appreciate all – I apologize for not responding individually to all, but it's a miracle with work and everything else that I even got this out. Still a mix of case and fluffy, by the way. Will get more action-y in chapter four.**

A few minutes before 5:30 am, Kensi and Deeks stride into the mission, a box of donuts and a tray of coffees in hand, both courtesy of Kensi's favorite donut shop, which opens at 5 every morning. He's behind her as they enter, and he can't take his eyes off of her as she moves. Her jeans hug her legs in the most ridiculously amazing way; he'd probably feel the same way about the fit on her rear, but she has her shirt tail out, covering it.

Or, he should probably say, _his_ shirt tail out, as she's wearing one of his favorite raglan-sleeved baseball style t-shirts, the navy one with dark heathered navy sleeves. She stole it after their shower this morning. He didn't so much as frown at her theft, as he'd been in such a damned happy place that he would've let her take anything.

Their shower this morning had been, in his opinion, pretty much the best shower of his life. All that happened was a little making out – initiated by him mainly because he wanted to but also because he hated that he'd frozen in shock and inadvertently embarrassed her earlier - but it was still glorious. He'd never admit it to anyone but her, but washing her hair for her may be the best thing he's ever done in a shower – and that's saying a lot, because he has some pretty remarkable experiences in that particular file.

He's not sure what it was about it that meant so much, but his breath had caught when, without saying a word, she handed him the shampoo and turned her back to him to give him access to her hair. Once again, it was her trust that took his breath away, in part because he knows that trust isn't her strongest suit.

So, when she rifled through his drawers and handed him a pair of jeans, a white t-shirt and his tan flannel before making a happy sound and pulling out the blue tee, he didn't protest. He was even less inclined to do so when she put the fabric to her face and inhaled deeply, and then any remaining desire to complain was entirely gone when she pulled the shirt on over her bra and tucked the front in, leaving the tail out. The sight of her in his too-big-for-her shirt paired with her close fitting, well-worn jeans had quite literally left him speechless.

As they walk in, Nell and Eric come down the stairs, followed closely by Granger. Kensi puts down the donuts and grabs her large café mocha (extra whipped cream, please, good lord, is she _trying _to kill him), and Deeks hands out the other coffees, specialty ones for Eric and Nell, a cup of black for Granger. "We weren't sure what you'd prefer, Director, so we went with black. Kensi said she saw you drinking it at Camp Chapman, so we thought it was a safe bet."

Granger gives Kensi a funny look, and she just shrugs, not sure if he's happy or annoyed. With Granger, it can be hard to tell. But after a beat, he raises the cup to her with a slightly lifted eyebrow, and she nods in acknowledgement as the man takes a drink. She then stands by her desk with her mocha and chocolate-iced donut (with sprinkles, because Deeks knows she likes sprinkles) and watches Deeks for a moment as he talks to Eric.

A warm shiver goes through her as she thinks about the morning and last night. For the first time in a long while, she feels like they may actually be OK – like they're almost across that damned frozen lake. Now, if they can just get Sam and Callen back, it'll all be all right again.

She ponders briefly on the question of whether she wants Hetty back or not. The woman has done a lot for her, but honestly, any trust earned over the years feels like it's gone, at least for now. She knows there's something they're missing about Afghanistan, something Hetty did that she is reluctant to share. Until she does, Kensi can't imagine trusting her.

Kensi's reverie is broken when Nell sidles up to her. "Nice shirt, Kens."

She manages to maintain a neutral expression. "Thanks."

"That's all you have to say?" Nell takes a sip of her coffee and smirks.

"You're smart. I think you can sort it out on your own." Then she realizes what Nell might guess, and she rushes to add, "But it's not _that_. It was innocent. And awesome. And that's all I'm going to say."

The smaller woman bumps Kensi's hip before perching on Kensi's desk. She looks over at Deeks for a moment and then back up at Kensi. A knowing smile crosses her face, and Kensi furrows her brow. "What?"

Nell grins. "You both look…happy."

"Yeah." Kensi's eyes soften as she smiles at Deeks as he appears to be teasing Eric about something. She guesses it's about the PJ pants. Her smile widens as she thinks about her new phone wallpaper. Eric will kill Deeks if he sees it.

"What's that grin about?"

"Nothing, just thinking," Kensi tries to cover, not wanting to bust Deeks for sharing the picture with her.

Nell looks suspicious, but she doesn't say anything. They walk over to Eric and Deeks as Granger joins them. "Agent Blye, Agent Deeks, thanks for breakfast. Now, we have work to do. Up to ops. And yes, you can bring your coffees, but if you spill on anything, damage repair comes out of your paychecks."

Granger turns and heads up the stairs, but Eric and Nell stare at Deeks. Nell is the first to speak. "_Agent_ Deeks?"

Kensi smiles, and Deeks shrugs sheepishly and nods. Nell actually squeaks before throwing her arms around him in a hug. When Nell steps away, Eric holds his hand out. "Congrats, man. I'm glad to hear it."

"Thanks," Deeks grins and shakes Eric's hand.

Granger's voice startles them all a moment later. "Today, people."

They all head up the stairs, Deeks letting Eric and Nell go before taking Kensi's hand and entwining their fingers. Kensi hesitates, suddenly thinking about what's next. Time to do what they can for Callen and Sam. Once again, fear runs through her for the two men she thinks of as the brothers she never had.

Sensing her mood change, Deeks leans down and says softly, "Remember, Callen and Sam – lots of lives left."

She swallows hard and nods, letting him lead her up the stairs. As they enter ops, a thought occurs to her. "Has anyone called Michelle?"

Deeks tightens his hand around hers, and Eric and Nell look up in surprise. Before anyone else can respond, Granger speaks up, "I spoke with Mrs. Hanna. She is up to speed and ready to assist if needed. She'll also reach out to Agent Callen's…_friend_…if needs be."

They nod, and Deeks asks, "So, what do we have?"

"A name and a face," Nell steps up to the board as Eric sits at his computer. An image of a man pops up and Nell sweeps them to the wall, olive skinned with dark hair and dark eyes. "Khalid Maalouf. Egyptian mother, Syrian father, raised in London where his parents met while in school. Identification was confirmed by our now very-anxious-to-assist harbormaster. Mr. Maalouf spent his childhood in London, but he moved to Egypt when he was twenty-two, where he lived and worked in finance for almost twelve years. He recently moved back to London. He's unmarried, no children."

"Does he have a record? Is that why we have so much information on him?" Kensi looks confused, and Deeks is feeling the same way.

Eric speaks up. "No. We got most of that from a magazine article about him from last spring. He's apparently one of London's 'Most Eligible Bachelors.' He's a millionaire now, having made a fortune in trading futures for his father's finance firm. His record is clean as a whistle, but as we dig deeper, we're finding what look like search trails from other agencies. Turns out that Interpol has him on a watch list as a potential financial backer of terrorist activity."

"So, do we have a location on him?" Deeks looks from Eric to Nell. "Are we picking him up?"

Granger steps in this time. "In a manner of speaking." He looks right at Kensi. "There's a charity brunch being hosted by Mr. Maalouf this morning, at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills. It's benefiting a small, somewhat legitimate, London group that brings underprivileged kids from the Middle East to western schools."

Kensi blinks. "What does '_somewhat_ legitimate' mean, and why are you looking at me?"

Nell cuts in. "Somewhat legitimate in that the kids are educated here or in Europe, but a disproportionate number of the kids have grown up to be tied to terrorist groups."

"Agent Blye, we've managed to get two tickets to the affair this morning. You and Agent Del Campo, who is on her way here, are going in as LA socialites, in the hopes that one of you will catch Mr. Maalouf's eye. He apparently has a penchant for tall brunettes, if the tabloids are anything to go by. You both fit that bill." He almost looks apologetic for a moment, but the moment is brief, and he's back to gruff. "We've heard that he has a yacht and will be having a small get-together on it this afternoon after the event, but we can't find anything on it. We're hoping that one of you will get invited back to it, and we'll be able to track you."

Nodding but not pleased with what's being asked of Talia and Kensi, Deeks says, "And you think there may be some sort of meet-up with the sub?"

"It's the only lead we have, unfortunately." Nell is the one to respond this time.

Kensi huffs out an irritated breath. "And where will Deeks be while Talia and I are trying to get noticed?"

"Close by, that's for damned sure." Deeks voice is a growl that almost rivals Granger.

Granger smirks. "Damned right, Agent Deeks. One of their bartenders, it turns out, had some unpaid parking tickets. He was picked up this morning. You'll be filling in."

"You got Bates' help? Was that before or after you sent him my letter?"

"After. It seems that he has a need for more full-time undercovers, and you were taking up a slot that the higher-ups wouldn't let him set aside as a specific liaison position. I also made a deal with him in return for this favor." Granger's smirk is back.

Deeks runs a hand through his hair. "And what sort of deal is that?"

Granger nods his head towards the door, and Deeks follows him out after a shrug and a confused look to Kensi. The doors close behind him, and he follows Granger down the upstairs hall, stopping about twenty feet from ops. "Agent Deeks, Bates is fine with you coming to work for us, and honestly, for you, it's a better deal. I imagine Henrietta had given you the numbers, but they're about twenty percent higher than what you were making with LAPD, and the retirement's better too."

"And?" Deeks is starting to lose patience.

"And Bates' condition to letting go gracefully and to helping us out with this op was that you continue to be a liaison to the LAPD, just working from this side. So, you'll still be keeping them up-to-date and helping to coordinate our ops. Basically, your job won't change much at all except that you'll be getting paid more, and the LAPD can't pull you back at their whim."

Granger starts to walk away when Deeks says, "Granger?" Granger turns back to look at him. "Why? Why did you do this for me, especially getting Director Vance's buy in? I know Hetty likes me, but I never got the impression that either of you did."

The man looks nearly thoughtful for a moment, but once again, the moment is brief. "It's not about like or dislike, Agent Deeks. It's a purely practical matter. This team functions better with you than without you. Callen, Hanna and Blye need you to keep them from getting too dark. You balance them and their hyper-competitive, serious personalities," he pauses, "And we all owe you after Afghanistan. We owe you for what you did and for what you almost did."

Deeks frowns. "Director…"

Granger holds up a hand. "Makar filed a classified report with me. It has been destroyed. We don't ever have to talk about it again. Understood?"

Deeks swallows hard. "Understood."

"We've all done things we're not proud of, Agent Deeks. We all have shit that we don't ever want to think about again. We've all crossed the line, and most of us have done so with a hell of a lot more frequency than you ever could imagine. Henrietta and I are both old pros at it. I hope for your sake that you manage to retain your ability to feel guilty over it. That's the sure sign that you're not actually a sociopath."

Deeks rolls his eyes at that. "Good to know, sir."

"Good to know what?" Kensi's voice makes both of them turn around.

Granger takes the opportunity to leave. "Be in wardrobe in less than ten, you two. Agent Del Campo should be here shortly, and Jones will help you all with your clothes."

After waiting for Granger to descend the stairs, Kensi looks up at Deeks. She can see a guarded look in his eyes, and it bothers her more than she's willing to admit. "What was that about?" Her voice is soft when she asks.

He sighs. "Kens…"

"Marty, something's bothering you. It has been for a while. I know you think I haven't noticed, but I have." She puts her hands on his chest.

He shakes his head, knowing he can't lie to her. But they also need to have their heads in the game, and this can wait. "There is, Kensalina, but it needs to wait." She starts to argue with him, but he just waves his hand. "I promise we'll talk about this when the op is over, but it's about Afghanistan, and neither of us needs to go there right now. We need to focus, and I don't think we'll be able to if we…it's just, I think we _both_ have things to talk about and, well, if you're not ready, and I push too hard…"

She leans up and kisses him. "Stop. It's OK. And you're right," at his smirk, she lifts an eyebrow, "Don't get cocky. You're right. We do need to focus for Callen and Sam. But when this is over…"

"We talk. About everything that happened."

She feels a shiver go through her at the thought of reliving what happened in the cave. "I'll try, OK? I know I need to, but I may have to stop now and then." She looks down.

He reaches out and hugs her close. "It may be the same for me, for what it's worth. So let's just promise to try." He releases her and looks down at her.

"Deal." She takes his hand to pull him to the stairs. "Now let's go get dressed."

"Yes, ma'am."

**KD**KD**KD**

Half an hour later, they're finishing gearing up. Kensi adjusts her gun in her bra holster, glad she kept it from their suburban undercover stint. She's wearing a sinfully short, skin-tight skirt, just like she had the last time she wore the holster. Her shirt requires that she wear a backless bra, but the holster thankfully still works with it. Her top is nearly backless and yet manages to be slightly demure with a relatively high neckline in the front. She wears knee-high spike heel black boots with it, and her hair is down and wavy.

She's not happy being on display like this. She finds that she's less up for this assignment than she might have been a year ago. She knows that's partially about Afghanistan, but it's also partially about the shaggy blond former detective whose eyes she can feel on her.

Deeks grimaces a little at the sight of her, and he hopes that the target goes for Talia instead. He has to admit that the DEA agent looks pretty amazing too. She's dressed in a red halter dress, a little longer than Kensi's skirt, but similarly skin-tight until it flares out, and red sandals with equally high heels and straps that lace part way up her leg. Deeks is pretty sure she has a gun as well, hers in a thigh holster.

He knows Talia is gorgeous, but for him, she doesn't hold a candle to Kensi. He walks over to her, his own outfit some simple black trousers that cover his ankle holster well, a white dress shirt and a colorful tie. His hair is as tamed as he can get it. She's fiddling nervously with her top when he gets to her. He wraps his arms around her waist and whispers in her ear, "Stop fidgeting. You look gorgeous. Though I like you better in that LAPD t-shirt."

She leans back into him for a moment, sighing and turning her face into his scruffy neck. "Thank you."

"Deeks?" He turns to see Nell standing there. "I already got Kens and Agent Del Campo their earwigs, but I need to get you set up."

He presses a kiss to Kensi's temple. "Be right back, beautiful."

She smiles and watches him as he walks towards Nell. "So," Kensi looks towards the sound of another voice to see Talia standing there, "We got off on the wrong foot, Agent Blye, and I didn't do anything to make it better. I apologize for that." She holds out her hand. "Agent Talia Del Campo, DEA."

Kensi nods. "Agent Kensi Blye, NCIS, nice to meet you, Agent Del Campo," she pauses, "And I apologize too. Maybe we both got a little out of hand."

They drop hands and Talia shrugs half-heartedly, "Yeah, but it's pretty clear now that you were just defending your turf. I was the interloper. And it's Talia, by the way."

"Kensi," she half smiles, "Or should I say, 'Lauren West, socialite?'"

Talia smirks. "Whitney Keller, also socialite. Nice to meet you, Lauren."

Deeks watches them as Nell hands him his earwig. "They're not killing each other. That's good."

Nell laughs. "Were you worried about that?"

He grins. "Little bit."

"Well, bartender Matt Jacobs, I'm sure they'll be fine. They're professionals." Nell gives him an impish grin.

He rolls his eyes. "You didn't see them yesterday."

"Oh, do tell, Shaggy."

"Dream on, Velma. I value my life."

She smirks at him. "Chicken."

He shrugs and replies with a smile, "Bok bok."

Kensi and Talia join them as Nell laughs out loud. Kensi lifts an eyebrow. "What's so funny?"

Deeks covers immediately, "I told her how you made the picture of Eric in his polar bear PJs the wallpaper for your phone."

Nell's eyes widen slightly, but she keeps it together. Kensi, however, very gently whacks Deeks on the arm. He cocks his head at her, and much to the confusion of Nell and Talia, she says, "Damn. That's two dollars I owe you now. Did you get a jar yet?"

He shakes his head, and before he can say anything, she reaches into her bra and pulls out two dollars she had rolled up together, pretty much in preparation for this moment. His eyes widen. She comes over and pushes the bills deep into one of his front pockets, her fingers lingering there for a moment, leaving him completely speechless. She grins and turns to Nell, who is working hard to keep from laughing. "Am I in the Aston Martin, Nell?"

The little redhead nods and hands over the keys. "Don't break it. Callen would be pissed."

"Yes, ma'am." She gives her a sad smile.

"Agent Del Campo," Nell turns to Talia, "Silver Mercedes in the garage. Kensi can show you."

"Thanks," Talia lifts an eyebrow, "You guys are pretty fancy for a group almost no one knows about."

Nell looks deadly serious. "You have no idea, Agent Del Campo." Without waiting for a reply, Nell turns back to Kensi and the still silent and slightly stunned looking Deeks. She grins again and motions to Deeks with her head. "I think you broke him, Kens. He's probably not even this quiet when he's asleep. If he ever comes around, he's in your SRX. I'm heading up to Ops. Good luck, you three."

Kensi snorts. "Thanks, Nell." She looks at Talia and points to the hallway leading to the garage. "Give us a sec?"

Talia actually looks amused, a pleasant surprise to Kensi. "Sure thing." She gathers her bag and heads towards the garage.

"Deeks?" Kensi grins up at him.

He shakes his head. "Well played, Fern. Very well played." He decides to surprise her back, so he reaches out and pulls her flush to him, pressing his lips to hers in a bruising, possessive kiss. He pulls back a moment later to rest his forehead against hers. "Don't take this the wrong way, Kens, but I really hope he thinks Talia is hotter than you."

She laughs softly and leans up to peck him on the nose. "Understood and agreed. And I really hope this helps get us to Callen and Sam."

"Amen, Fern. Now go be almost as sexy, but not quite as sexy, as Talia. I'll be watching you both." He steps away from her.

"I know, and I think she does too." Kensi smiles again. "Time to go, Agent Deeks. I'll see you there."

"You will. Be careful, Fern. Please." He's suddenly very serious.

She reaches up to briefly cup his face with her hand. She brushes her thumb over his cheek. "You too, Max." With that, she turns and follows Talia towards the garage, and he silently says a prayer that both she and Talia will be safe. If he has anything to say about it, they will be.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note – No profit to be had here, just having a bit of fun with a show I love. **

**Also, a warning, one or two things here are going to be starting to be based on some Spoiler stills I saw on the season premiere, but I won't tell you which ones. How they even fit are pure speculation on my part – all I saw were some stills from the set.**

**Once again, thank you for all of the lovely reviews and all of the follows and favorites – they mean the world to me, but with my work and time looking after the little one, I'm lucky to even find time to write! Thank you!**

Deeks pulls the SRX up to the service entrance of the Four Seasons. He parks and quickly checks his comm and ankle holster before locking the car and heading inside. Their target is clearly not expecting to be identified, because he isn't stopped by any sort of security on his way in. He hopes it'll be just as easy for Kensi and Talia, as he doesn't want them to get busted for carrying before the op even starts.

He checks in with Nell and Eric to test the comms, and a moment later he lets out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding when Kensi does the same. He feels slightly guilty when he's actually surprised to hear Talia check in too – he hadn't been waiting for her. He mentally chastises himself for that, as she's just as vulnerable on this op as Kensi is.

The event is set to start momentarily. Deeks gets behind the bar and begins to familiarize himself with the set-up. It's an open bar, and he was given instructions to make whatever is requested. He won't have a problem with that. He tended bar on occasion in college and law school, and he's also done so on more than one undercover op. He gives the liquor selection a once-over, and he has to admit that he's impressed by the variety – it's also all very high end, top shelf stuff.

He gives a nod to the bartender at the other end of the bar, and he's stunned to realize that it's another cop, an undercover from LAPD, someone younger but who Deeks has worked with a few times. The event is set to start in a few minutes, so he quickly moves towards the man saying, "You want the well, or should I take it?" He refers to the end of the bar where the wait staff will come with beer and mixed drink orders from the tables. The hotel has another spot for wine and non-alcoholic drinks.

The LAPD undercover nods and indicates that he'll take the well. A quiet conversation later confirms that his undercover name is Jake Ryland and that he was placed by Bates as back-up. Deeks is a little stunned when "Jake" says that Bates sent him knowing they don't have their usual team. Deeks realizes that it was also a nod to the end of a long working relationship, and he once again reminds himself to reach out to his former boss when this is over.

As the event begins, more and more people come to the bar. He already has all of the entrances and exits mapped in his head, so if things go sideways, he can grab Kensi and Talia and go. He also worked out a signal with Jake so that he'll know who Kensi and Talia are. He's mixing a martini for an overly-flirtatious fifty-something when he hears Kensi's voice in his ear. "I'm here in the valet line, Matt," he blinks when she uses his fake name, but then he pours the martini and hands if off to the lady at the bar, giving her a grin when she leaves him a big tip. Talia confirms her presence in the valet line over comms a second later.

He turns for a moment to rinse out the martini shaker. He uses that moment to reply, "Glad to hear it Lauren, you too, Whitney. I'm guessing you might've heard me talking to the other bartender, have an ally at the bar, another method actor courtesy of my old boss." He knew that at least Kensi would get the reference to an undercover LAPD officer.

She proves him right when she says a moment later, "Whitney, that means an LAPD undercover."

Talia's voice comes back, "Got it, Lauren, thanks for the explanation. Got to go. My turn to drop off my wheels. See you soon, barkeep."

Deeks swallows a laugh, and he hears Kensi chuckle over the line. "Same here. Stay safe."

The line goes quiet except for the sounds of background noise, first of the parking line, and then of the hotel lobby. He goes back to helping the event attendees approaching the bar. It's a relatively small event, so while the flow is steady, it isn't a madhouse by any means. Because of that, he can keep an eye on the door.

Several male heads turn when Talia enters in her red halter dress, and he has to admit that he can't blame the guys for looking. In particular, he sees Jake staring at her wide-eyed. Deeks gets his attention and scratches his right ear, the signal they worked out for Deeks to identify Kensi and Talia.

Jake nods and swallows hard, and Deeks grins before going back to the bloody mary he's mixing. He passes it to the customer just as Kensi comes in, and he signals Jake again. The man comes over when there's a break in the action, and he mutters, "Yeah, I'd have quit for a job with ladies like that too." He trashes an empty bottle of bourbon and holds his hand out.

Deeks shrugs and hands him a new bottle, the cover working well for their conversation. "The one in the skirt and top is off limits. Red dress is available, as far as I know, but you'll have to ask her," simultaneously, he hears both Kensi and Talia snort over the comms, "But you know they're both here for the job right now."

"Off limits, eh?" The man smirks. Deeks just gives him a hard look, and Jake waves his white towel in mock surrender, and he retreats back to the well with the bourbon.

"Bartender?" A familiar voice gets his attention, and he turns to see Kensi standing there.

He wipes down the bar in front of her, and she delicately places her small beaded bag on it. "Please feel free to call me Matt, ma'am. What can I get for you?"

"Can I get a club soda with a twist?" She smiles, and it's a soft Kensi-smile, not an undercover flirty smile.

"Of course, ma'am." He lifts an eyebrow and gives her an overly-amorous smile in return. "Anything else?" The way he says the words is suggestive, trying to push her more into character.

She blinks and her face changes. She curses herself internally, but he just looked so adorable after she heard him being protective and territorial that she slipped out of her role for a moment. "Just the drink, Matt." She looks him up and down lasciviously, "We'll see about anything else later, depending on how things go."

His heartbeat picks up at her words, and he's glad for the distraction when hears a laugh and sees Talia down the bar flirting with Jake. He gets Kensi her club soda, and she drops a twenty in the tip jar with a wink and sashays away, adding a little swing to her walk as she goes. He continues to serve the other party-goers, but his eyes are never all that far from Kensi.

Talia moves through the room well, making herself very visible, and Kensi does the same. About twenty minutes after they arrive, Maalouf comes in the door. Deeks quietly alerts them over the comms, "Target is on site." Neither Kensi nor Talia say anything, but they both give almost-imperceptible nods.

He watches the target work the room, shaking hands with the various guests, urging people to participate in the silent auction and later saying a few words thanking them for their generous donations. He continues to keep an eye on him as Talia and Kensi both discreetly hover near him, looking for a moment to make some sort of personal contact. It's difficult, as he's frequently speaking with business associates, men identified via facial recognition by Eric or Nell and reported to them over comms.

Finally, they get an opportunity when Maalouf breaks off from his associates to get some food. There is an elaborate brunch buffet set up, and Deeks' antenna goes up when he sees Talia take a place in line for it right behind Maalouf.

As luck would have it, the person behind her actually trips and pushes her into Maalouf, who turns in surprise and catches her, breaking her fall. She's in total "Whitney Keller" mode, flirting and acting mortified to have run into him, even as she braces herself on his shoulder, gripping it with her right hand, her fingertips slipping beneath his blazer's collar.

He's very solicitous, and Deeks can easily see that the man is damn-near salivating at the sight of her in that dress. He hates himself a little for the flash of relief he feels at the fact that Talia was the one to catch Maalouf's eye.

Kensi heads towards him at the bar, still in flirtatious character, and she orders another drink. The bar traffic has slowed down, so she takes a seat at the end of the bar, able to face him but also to watch Talia. Maalouf has her sit at his table, and he goes and gets them both some food. Pretending to straighten her hair and looking in a mirror from her purse, a moment later they hear her murmur, "Just put a tracking device on his shoulder, under his collar."

Kensi, as Lauren, gives Deeks a dazzling smile. "Well done, Whitney." They hear Talia snort again. Deeks can't help but admire Kensi and Talia. He's pretty sure that the two of them and Nell probably came up with the idea of just tracking Maalouf together. If nothing else, it at least makes it possible to track him instead of one of them having to actually go on the yacht.

For the rest of the event, Kensi stays at the bar pretending to flirt with Deeks (well, mostly pretending) and watching Talia with Maalouf. They can pick up all of her words to him, but they only catch a word of his here and there. Kensi and Deeks both perk up when they hear Talia say, "Oh, a party on a yacht? That sounds lovely, but I barely know you."

After a low rumble from Maalouf, they hear Talia laugh and agree to meet him at the marina in the afternoon. He slides her something on a napkin and leans close to her, and they clearly hear him tell her he's looking forward to it and that he'll see her in a couple of hours, but that he has to go for now.

The man gets up and walks away, looking back at Talia more than once. She gets up and straightens her dress, moving smoothly towards the exit of the room. Kensi grabs a bar napkin and scrawls something on it before handing it to Deeks. It's a note that just says that she'll see him later, but anyone watching them would probably think she's just a rich girl hitting on the cute bartender.

She gets up and leaves too, as the crowd thins out. Fifteen minutes later, the cleaning crew comes in, as all of the guests are gone. Jake comes down to Deeks' end of the bar. He holds out his hand. "Evan Whitestone. It's been a few years. I used to work a lot with Jess Trainer."

Deeks winces a little at that name, but he shakes the man's hand. "That's right, I remember you. The last time was a drug ring out of a little studio in Venice, right? That was right before she got assigned as my handler."

"Yeah," the man nods, "Last time I worked with Jess. I'm sorry about what happened to her. I know you two got close."

Deeks nods back and runs a hand through his hair. He removes his comm before replying, "We did. She was a good cop and a good friend."

They turn and walk out towards the service entrance. As they go, an older woman, one of the people on the cleaning crew, follows them, calling after them that they forgot their tip jar. Deeks looks at Evan, and Evan shrugs and nods. Deeks turns to the woman, winks, and smiles. "Keep it, ma'am."

Getting tears in her eyes, she splutters out an amazed thank you, and both men smile even wider before turning and leaving. As they continue out, Evan asks, "The one in the skirt, she's your…?"

Deeks hesitates before replying honestly, "My everything. Kensi's my everything."

"That's great, man. She seems pretty kick ass."

They stop at the SRX, Deeks motioning to it to indicate that it's his. "She is. Talia is too, for what it's worth. Give me your number. I can pass it to her if you want me to."

Evan trots over to his car and grabs a piece of paper, scribbling his number on it and handing it to Deeks. "Thanks. Is she NCIS too?"

Deeks grins and climbs in his car, closing his door but opening the window. "Nope. DEA. And I'll do what I can. She's a cool lady."

"OK. And Deeks?"

"Yeah?"

"Bates won't ever say it, because Bates never says it, but he's going to miss having you around." He gives him a mock salute. "Take care of yourself, man."

"You too, Whitestone." He returns the salute and starts the car, following Kensi and Talia back to the mission as planned.

**KD**KD**KD**

Kensi pulls the Aston Martin into the garage at the mission, and she's followed closely by Talia in the Mercedes. She knows Deeks isn't far behind, but she wants to talk to Talia before they go inside. She gets out as Talia is doing the same. "Talia?"

The woman looks at her. "What's up, Blye?"

Kensi walks over to her. "You know you don't have to do anything if the tracking device doesn't work or gets left behind, right? That you don't have to get on that boat?" Talia looks confused, so Kensi explains, "Look, you and I both know that getting on that boat with him and his friends would be crazy dangerous. At a certain point, it's just insanity. You barely know Sam and Callen – we're asking a lot of you."

Shaking her head, Talia says, "I'm getting on the boat, Kensi, if we can't track Maalouf with the device I put on him. It's not just about Agents Callen and Hanna. We both know that. If you were me, what would you do?"

"I'd get on the boat." Kensi sighs. "OK, I understand it, and I appreciate it. But we need a safe word in case you need us to try to pull you out fast."

"How about 'noodles?'" Deeks walks up to them with a smile, guessing that Kensi is trying to talk Talia out of getting on the boat.

Kensi can't help but snort out a laugh, and Talia just says, "I'm not going to ask. But sure, why not? Noodles it is."

Deeks nods and hands her the piece of paper with the LAPD undercover's phone number on it. "Detective Evan Whitestone. He wanted me to pass you a note after study hall, so here it is."

They all walk towards the door into the mission. Deeks wraps his arm around Kensi's waist and looks at Talia. "You going to call him? He seemed like a good guy."

"You trying to set me up, Marty?" Talia lifts an eyebrow at him.

"Maybe." He grins at her, just glad that she has gotten the message and stopped flirting with him. "And by the way, I can guess that Fern here was telling you that you do not have to get on Maalouf's damned yacht."

"She was, but she knows I will if the tracker doesn't work," she clearly realizes what he said, and does a double-take. "And wait, _Fern_?"

Kensi throws her hands up and tries to escape his arm around her. "Oh my God, don't ask." She gets away from him and goes to wardrobe to change, this time into one of her own shirts, knowing his will be too big on her if they have to see action. Talia and Deeks follow her, Talia laughing as Deeks explains the provenance of the nickname.

Twenty minutes later, the three of them are up in ops with Granger, Eric and Nell. They're anxiously watching the tracking device, hoping that he keeps the blazer with him. Granger is briefing them on the plan of what they'll be doing, regardless of whether it's the tracker or Talia on the yacht. He is the only one who didn't try to talk Talia out of getting on the yacht.

Eric also got Kaleidoscope going on Maalouf's car, and he's keeping an eye on that as well, tracked to the Chateau Marmont. So far, the tracker and the car are still there. As he and Nell watch both, Granger manages to surprise the three agents.

"I have an LAPD chopper lined up, and I have a small team of NCIS agents armed and ready to accompany you," he looks at Deeks, "Agent Deeks, the downside is that the chopper pilot's wife just went into labor, and all of the other LAPD chopper pilots are either off or out on other calls. Bates hasn't processed your resignation yet. He's going to do it when this mission is over, so you're still going to be covered on their insurance policies. I think you know where I'm going with this."

Everyone else in ops is staring at Deeks. He mentally curses himself for not mentioning this to Kensi before. He clears his throat. "So, um, you know how I disappear sometimes on the weekends and you guys all think I'm just surfing a lot?"

Kensi puts her hands on her hips. "Am I going to need to get another dollar out?"

"You might." He shrugs. "Sometimes I'm surfing, but sometimes I'm getting hours to keep my qualification up to date."

"Your qualification to do what exactly?" Kensi furrows her brow and gives him a hard look.

Granger actually laughs, a sound they don't often hear. "I'll put you out of your misery, Detective-slash-Agent Deeks." He looks at Kensi. "His qualification as a chopper pilot. He'll be the one flying you all today."

Before Kensi can say anything, Nell says, loudly, "Damn it."

They all look over at her. As Eric stands by with a slightly ill look on his face, Nell blushes slightly but explains, "Car, is moving, jacket is not. I'm sorry, Agent Del Campo."

"No need to be sorry. I kind of expected it." She looks at Kensi and Deeks, who both look ready to argue with her. She holds her hand up to stop them. "I'm going. I'll go get my dress back on. Just be close by, OK?" She turns to go.

"Talia?" It's Kensi who speaks, surprising them all. She turns back. "Be careful, OK? And good luck."

"You too. See you all soon." With that, she's gone.

Granger doesn't let them dwell on it. "No time to waste, you two. Gear up. Blye, your sniper rifle has been returned to the armory. Get it and whatever other weapons you want. It's go time." They both nod grimly and, with quick, tight smiles to Nell and Eric, they head for the armory.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note – No profit to be had here, just having a bit of fun with a show I love. **

**Also, as noted before, one or two things here are going to be starting to be based on some Spoiler stills I saw on the season premiere, but I won't tell you which ones. How they even fit are pure speculation on my part – all I saw were some stills from the set.**

**Once again, thank you for all of the lovely reviews and all of the follows and favorites – they mean the world to me! **

Kensi and Deeks make it to the armory and are part-way geared up before Kensi is able to parse through the new information she just got on her…what? Partner? Boyfriend? _Pilot_? This is getting complicated, but she finds herself more intrigued than anything at this new development – intrigued but also hurt. And this time, the hurt wins out.

As they quietly strap on their vests, she can't stop herself from asking the one question that's bothering her. "Why didn't you tell me?"

He cringes at the question, not because he doesn't want to answer it, but because he knows he hurt her feelings again. "Kens, it was never me not telling you, it's just something I do because I like it. I wasn't hiding it, and I especially wasn't hiding it from you. I just don't talk about it much."

She pauses in her preparation, knowing they do have a few minutes. "I don't understand, Marty. This is pretty seriously cool. Why would you not talk about it?"

He stops too, looking at her with a sigh. "Kens, we don't have time for this conversation right now."

"Yeah, we do, Marty." She crosses her arms and gives him a hard look. "This is kind of a big thing to just omit for the past four years."

He's silent for a moment as he goes back to gearing up, slipping extra clips into his pocket before holstering both of his guns. When he finishes, she's still staring at him intently. "Kensi, I…"

"Tell me, Deeks. This is silly. Just _tell _me." She can't help it that the hurt creeps back into her voice.

He shrugs. "I don't like to talk about it, Kensi." He turns away, but he keeps talking before she has to prompt him again. "After I shot my dad, they took me away from my mom and put me with foster parents. Not a big surprise, given that she didn't have a job and was going to wind up in a shelter, and even that was only going to happen after she got out of the hospital – she had four broken ribs and a cracked cheekbone that time – and then out of rehab after that, because by then drinking was the only way she could not hurt all the time."

She winces and comes up behind him, putting her hands on his waist and resting her head against his upper back. She's confused as to what this has to do with his ability to fly a chopper, but she's willing to just listen.

He appreciates that she doesn't question, and he takes a deep breath. "I was lucky, if you could call it that. I got placed with a good family, one with no other kids – they purposefully only took one at a time, generally, I found out later, kids thought to be 'high risk.' Given that I had a long history of injuries that, when looked at objectively and collectively, were clearly abuse and then I'd shot my dad, I definitely landed in that high risk category."

She wraps her arms around his waist and presses herself to his back, trying to let him know that he can just go on. He reaches down and covers her arms with his, and he continues, "Long story short, and I can tell you more later, Greg, my foster dad, was a chopper pilot. I had some hairline fractures all over from those last few days with my dad, so I wasn't allowed to do much, and school was about to let out for Christmas. So, instead of leaving me to my own devices or making me go to work with Helen, his wife, he took me with him to work. He was a charter pilot for a private helicopter service. Eventually, he started to teach me. I got a student license at sixteen, and I finished the rest of my licensing at eighteen."

"You were with them that long?" Kensi asks softly, as she's surprised to hear it.

He turns in her arms and looks down at her. "I never lived with just my mom again. She was too messed up, and she was sick by then." She furrows her brow, so he explains, "My poor mom couldn't catch a break. When, after two years, she was finally on her feet, dried out and working at a dress shop, she started noticing that she was bruising a lot and feeling really tired. She was diagnosed with leukemia, and I wasn't a bone marrow donor match. I got my SOB father's blood type, not hers."

He sighs again. "My foster parents were saints. They wanted me to get as much time with her as I could, so they moved her into their spare bedroom. She lived there for over a year, until she died. They also helped us get both of our names legally set to Mom's maiden name. We'd both had our fill of Gordon John Brandel. We wanted nothing of him, especially not his name."

"How old were you when she…"

"Fifteen."

"Same age as me when I lost my dad." She blinks in surprise at that.

He nods. "Yeah. Let's just say that I get it." He releases her and steps back from her. "After she died, my foster parents legally adopted me. Mom asked me to go along with it, but I didn't take their name. They were great, though. Greg not only taught me to fly, he also is the one who really helped me learn to surf. I'd fooled around with it before, but Greg got me my board and would just go sit at the beach while I practiced. The summer after Mom passed, I was pretty much there all day, every day. It helped me to not think about it so much."

"Are they still alive? Greg and Helen?" She assumes not, given the whole no next of kin thing when he was shot.

He gives her a sad smile. "No. They were old enough to be my grandparents when they took me in. I was the last kid they ever fostered and the only one they ever adopted. Helen passed about ten years ago, Greg not long before I met you." He reaches out and brushes a hand through her hair. "Now, we really need to go."

She nods, grabbing her sniper rifle. He holds the door open for her, and a few minutes later they're heading for the pad where the LAPD has its helicopters. She lets him drive, as it's easier than him having to give her directions the entire way.

She watches him as he drives, wondering what else she doesn't know about him. Something occurs to her as she watches him. "Way back on the Donald Wexling case, the one with the Marines kidnapped in the desert, why did you say it had been six years since you saw your dad at Thanksgiving?"

He keeps his eyes on the road, but he blindly reaches for her. She takes his hand, brushing her thumb over the top of it. "I don't know. I guess it was easier, and to be honest, I figured you already thought I was pretty useless. I didn't really want pity on top of that."

She freezes, and she remembers that they weren't exactly nice to him at first. "I'm sorry about how we treated you when you first joined us. We were all still hurting about Dom, but that's no excuse. But for the record, I never thought you were useless."

They arrive at the helicopter pad, and Deeks flashes his LAPD badge, retrieved from his desk drawer before they left. They're waved through, and once he parks the car and turns it off, he looks at Kensi. "Really?" He says it in his sarcastic way that says he doesn't believe her for a second.

She lifts an eyebrow at him. "Really. Now, annoying, goofy and possessed of a ridiculously small bladder? Yes, definitely. But not useless."

He snorts out a laugh and shakes his head. "Touché, Fern."

She smiles, glad to see him pulling out of the fog he'd been in on the way over here. They need to re-focus. She's glad she got him to talk to her, though, if only because it would have been bothering her, and that would have been a dangerous distraction.

They get out of the car, and she goes around to the back to pull out her rifle and other gear as he calls ops. She hears him a moment later as he reports in that they've arrived. He gives her a look and points at his ear, and she gets his meaning and nods as she reaches to turn on her comm. He says, "OK, Nell, we're going to comms," and hangs up his phone.

As they both hear Granger in their ears – not a favorite experience for either of them – another car pulls up and two members of what is clearly a tactical team arrive. Kensi speaks up, "Tactical support is here."

An LAPD officer approaches Deeks, and Deeks shakes his hand with a smile. Kensi can tell Deeks knows the guy, presumably from when he's here getting his time in. They walk towards a large chopper, and she watches with fascination as he starts what appears to be a pre-flight check. "Deeks is checking out the chopper now." She frowns as she sees him looking at something in the cockpit and then taking off his vest.

As Kensi approaches Deeks, she motions to the tac team to follow. They both carry large rifles like hers, and they also have gear designed for a sea rescue if needed and another large weapon case. Kensi hears Nell a moment later. "Deeks, Kens, Agent Del Campo just checked in with us. She's onboard Maalouf's yacht. We are tracking her both via her phone and via a device in her clothes."

"We need you all airborne now," Granger interrupts, "We also have two Coast Guard defenders and two interceptors on call and ready to move in. They're hanging back. You're their air support. There's also a large clipper nearby if you need to land for medical assistance."

"Sounds like a party," Deeks responds, "We'll be airborne shortly, Director. Pre-flight is almost complete. Just need clearance from Air Traffic and to get the team on board." He stows his vest under his seat, and he slips on a life vest instead. Seeing Kensi's look of disapproval, he shrugs and hands similar life vests to her and the two tac guys. The guys take them and go about stowing their gear and getting strapped in.

"Deeks, you need your vest on too." Kensi gives him a hard look.

He hops in the pilot's seat and motions to her to get in on the other side. She grabs her rifle and moves around, getting strapped in to the other front seat as he finishes his pre-flight and talks to Air Traffic Control over the radio, getting their permission to take off. He's relieved when he realizes that Granger and Bates must have cleared that path for them, as he gets no blowback at all over it.

When he's done talking to ATC for the moment, he briefly takes his headset back off. "I can't move well enough in it, my seat belt and the life vest, and if I end up in the water, the life vest is the one I need. I have to be able to move easily, Kensalina, or the whole bird could wind up in the Pacific."

She furrows her brow, but then she nods in resignation, understanding that he's right. She puts on her headset, and they turn off the comms as ops moves to their frequency so they can talk over the headsets.

Both he and Kensi put on their sunglasses, and Deeks reaches up and flips several switches, suddenly completely focused on what he's doing. The engine roars to life and the rotors start to turn. Kensi can't help but watch in admiration as he gets his final clearance for them to take off and easily maneuvers the controls. They rise as smoothly as you ever rise in a chopper like this, and they head for the coordinates that Eric supplies over the radio.

They're going to be tracking the yacht from a distance at first, but they're hoping they'll get something they can go on from Talia. They rise up to his approved cruising altitude, and he heads for open water. His mind wanders to Callen and Sam; he really hopes that they're OK. He also really hopes that the sub is within twelve miles of the coastline. If it isn't, the jurisdictional issues, already sticky when you're talking about the ocean, get downright nasty.

He feels a tap on his arm, and he looks over at Kensi. She taps on her headset, and he activates his mike, careful with his words because he knows the others are likely listening. "What's up, Kens?"

"You're good at this."

He gives her a quick half-smile. "Thanks."

"You still think they're OK?"

He gives her a quick look, and despite not being able to see her eyes, he knows that they're full of worry. "I'm not willing to believe anything else. They'd do the same for us."

She nods, and he sees her set her mouth in the way she does when she's resolute about something. "They already have for me, haven't they?"

They hear a quick intake of breath over the headsets at her barely-veiled reference to Afghanistan, and they know it was from either Eric or Nell – or maybe both. He just nods, though, because it's simply the truth. "That's how the four of us roll, Kensalina. Always will."

"Damn right, but it's six of us." They hear Eric's voice over the headsets, and the vehemence in his near-growling voice takes them both by surprise.

They both grin, and Kensi agrees, "We stand corrected, Mr. Beale."

They all go quiet again after that, and Deeks takes up a holding pattern a few miles away from the yacht. Maalouf's craft had been on a direct line out to open, international waters, but then it started circling in a small area, giving all of them hope that he's going to be meeting up with the sub.

The Coast Guard boats stay out from the yacht as well, but the interceptors in particular can get to the yacht pretty quickly. They're starting to worry that nothing is going to come of this rather elaborate set-up when Nell contacts them. "We just got word from Talia. She broke off to use the restroom, and she just sent us coordinates on a map she saw. She said it was one of those ones under glass cover with a rendezvous point marked." She gives Deeks and the Coast Guard the coordinates over the radio. "The time marked was just under twenty minutes from now."

Deeks is waiting for Granger to do something to coordinate them with the boats when he hears Granger's voice mutter an expletive in the background before coming in loud and clear over the headsets, "Agent Deeks, please head for the yacht. You can get there first, and Agent Del Campo needs the support. She has pictures of some incriminating documents, stuff that would let us lock up Maalouf, but she's getting antsy and is concerned they're about to make her."

Deeks and Kensi both swear at that, and a moment later Nell rattles off some exact coordinates. Deeks heads straight for them. He mostly tunes out everything but controlling the chopper, but in the background he can register the sound of the two tac guys in the back gearing up, and he sees Kensi adjust her rifle to make it so that she can open up the chopper door and start firing.

Knowing they'll likely beat the interceptors to the yacht, Deeks yells to the two tac guys over the headsets. "Are you two prepared to drop onto the yacht if I can get close enough?" The men both immediately respond in the affirmative.

"Deeks?" Kensi's voice makes him look at her. "What are you planning?"

"We need to get Talia some support. We're going to beat the Coast Guard there, so if I can get us close enough, I want you to lay down cover while we drop these two," he motions to the back with his head, "To the deck and then head out to look for the sub at the rendezvous. But before anything else, I want you ready – we need to take out their radio antenna. You up for that, Princess?"

"You get me close, Shaggy, I'll take it out. It won't stop a sat phone, but it'll stop about anything else." Kensi gives him a wicked grin.

"Good thinking, Agent Deeks," they hear Granger's gruff voice, "And I've got the wonder twins here going on blocking satellite feeds to and from the yacht. Coast Guard is four, max five minutes out. We've got surprise on our side. Half of the boats are heading for the yacht, the other two are heading for the rendezvous. Clipper is standing by."

"Understood." Deeks looks at Kensi again and glances at the agents in the back. "We're two minutes out. You'll have to hold the fort for two to three minutes with Agent Blye giving extra cover."

One of the men in the back responds, "No problem, Agent Deeks. This is what we do. And for the record, we're happy to do it – we both know Agent Hanna – we SEALs, former or otherwise, stick together."

Knowing the men are SEALs like Sam makes Deeks relax a tiny bit. It also makes him a little more confident that they can pull off what's being asked of them and grateful to Granger for coloring outside the lines a bit on this one. Scanning the horizon, he suddenly sees their target. It's huge, probably 90 feet long. Deeks immediately sees the radio antenna, and he points it out to Kensi.

One of the guys in the back passes her, to both hers and Deeks' surprise, a small rocket launcher. She turns and cocks her head at the SEAL who handed it to her. "We try to always be prepared, ma'am."

Kensi and Deeks both snort, and Deeks mutters, "Well played, SEAL."

They get closer to the yacht, and Deeks sees people coming out on deck as Kensi slams her door open. She's secured by her harness as she leans out, and lining up her shot, she says, "Too late, scumbags." Half a heartbeat later, the rocket is off, and a second after that, the antenna explodes in a fireball.

"Hell yeah, Fern!" Deeks whoops at the victory and swings the chopper towards the back of the yacht. "Nell, Director, someone tell Talia the cavalry is here."

The people on the deck of the yacht are caught completely off guard, and they see people running towards the area where the rocket hit. Deeks can't help but think that they're real idiots.

Kensi is thinking the same as she hands the rocket launcher back and readies her rifle. A moment later, the door on Deeks' side is slammed open, and she begins to watch to lay down cover fire if needed. The deck looks clear for now, and, due to the thankfully relatively calm day, Deeks is able to get them very close to the rear deck of the yacht.

"Go, go, go!" Kensi yells, and the first SEAL grunts out an acknowledgement and drops the fifteen feet to the deck, rolling as he hits and then giving them a thumbs up.

Kensi spots a man running towards the back of the yacht, gun out, and as the second SEAL drops towards the deck, she takes out the would-be attacker with a quick shot to the shoulder. A second man is behind him, and she clips his leg and yells out a warning to the guys on the deck. They're ready by now, and they easily incapacitate the man and yell, "Get out of here. Coast Guard will back us up, Agents. Go get your friends."

"Thanks, guys!" Kensi yells it over the radio, and Deeks turns the chopper towards the rendezvous point, praying silently that the sub is surfacing, none the wiser that their contacts have been, for lack of a better term, delayed. They slide their doors closed to cut down on the wind and noise.

Deeks pushes the chopper as hard as he can, as they're rapidly nearing the time of the rendezvous. Kensi has her sunglasses off and is using a set of binoculars to try to spot either the sub or the Coast Guard boats.

They're both so focused that Talia's voice over the radio catches them off guard. "Marty, Kensi, Granger is patching me through. Yacht is secure. Maalouf is bitching and wailing like a teenage princess, but one of the mercs he hired for security is singing like a canary. They were going to bring their guys aboard from the sub, set its autopilot and aim it at the Naval base at Coronado. They confirmed stowaways, said they kept them in the forward compartment with the bomb. They're planning to lock them in and leave them on it."

Kensi nearly drops the binoculars. "Wait, they're definitely alive?"

"At last check in, according to the merc, yes. Two people alive, front compartment, armed and not afraid to fire warning shots." Talia sounds very relieved to be providing likely good news.

"Oh, thank God," Kensi breathes out.

Deeks smiles at her and nods. "Thanks, Talia, for everything."

"Happy to do it – you guys all owe me a drink or three, though. And maybe I'll call that undercover to join us. He really was cute," she pauses and gets serious again, "Good luck, you two. I hope they're all right."

"Thanks, Talia." Kensi responds this time, and Talia signs off.

Kensi goes back to scanning the horizon, and a moment later, she calls out, "Deeks! Coast Guard interceptor, three o'clock!"

Deeks nods, and he calls to the boat, confirming who they are. Nell's voice comes over the radio, "Deeks, Kens, we want you to try something – Kens, in a second, adjust the radio frequency to exactly what I tell you. If Callen and Sam still have their comms, we want to try to raise them. We're hoping that if they feel it when the sub starts to surface, they'll start to try to call for help. We couldn't get them on comms before, but we think your proximity will help."

Kensi leans towards the radio. "OK, Nell, I'm ready when you are."

Deeks watches and listens as Nell rattles off a frequency setting, and he keeps the chopper headed straight for the interceptor. A moment later, Kensi starts to call. "Callen, Sam, this is Kensi, please respond!"

She repeats it over and over as they rapidly approach the rendezvous time. Three minutes later, Deeks lets out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding when a scratchy voice responds, "Holy crap, _Kens_? Where are you?"

"Callen!" Kensi gets tears of relief in her eyes. "We're in a chopper close by. Coast Guard is here too – we got intel on the sub's rendezvous, and we're just waiting for it to surface."

Deeks breaks in, "Callen, are you and Sam both OK?"

"Affirmative, Deeks. We're both thirsty as hell, and Sam is damned cranky, but we're mostly OK." They can both hear fatigue heavy in Callen's voice.

"Yes, mostly OK, but I'm ready for you to get our asses off of this damned underwater dungeon." Sam sounds tired too, but they can also hear just a hint of dark humor in his tone.

"What's your ammo situation, guys?" Kensi asks.

"We both have a full clip left, but that's it. Luckily, they didn't want to shoot at us much. Something about us being in the same room with a crapload of homemade bomb, I imagine." Callen's sarcasm isn't lost on them, and Kensi and Deeks both chuckle.

"All right, guys, sit tight. We need to switch frequencies again to update ops and the Coast Guard. Be ready." Deeks nods to Kensi to get ready to switch their frequency back.

"Affirmative, Deeks. And in case we forget to say it later, thanks to both of you for coming for us." All of the sarcasm is gone from Callen's voice this time.

Kensi swallows hard. "Anytime, Callen, Sam. Anytime."

They switch the frequency to the original one, and they report into the Coast Guard with ops listening. They hear cheers from Eric and Nell in the background as they confirm to the Coast Guard interceptor captain that there are two friendlies on the sub.

Deeks tells the Coast Guard the frequency they're switching to, and once Kensi switches them back again, they warn Callen and Sam that things are about to get hot. Seconds later, the sub surfaces. Deeks slides his door back open and gets one of his guns just in case he needs it.

The interceptor closes in, and Kensi slams open her door and aims her rifle towards the sub's hatch. A man pokes his head out cautiously – his caution is not a surprise, given that they likely haven't been able to make contact with Maalouf. Once the guy begins to rise from the hatch, idiotic considering the presence of the chopper, Kensi wonders briefly if they plan to give up.

The man hesitates, but then he raises his gun towards them. He gets a shot off, and it ricochets off of the front of the left skid and towards Deeks' side. The angle must be just right, because the wildly pinged shot grazes him. "Son of a bitch!" Deeks can't stop himself from yelling when the bullet slices a gash up his left arm. He keeps the chopper under control, but he can feel the blood running down his arm.

Kensi takes aim and drops the guy on the sub. She yells for Callen and Sam as she reloads, but they don't hear much in return. Another man pops up in the hatch, and, after confirming that he isn't Callen or Sam, Kensi immediately fires at him, and he drops back down into the sub. Deeks mutters, "Christ, it's like a twisted game of whack-a-mole."

Kensi rolls her eyes and looks over at Deeks for a moment, noticing the alarming amount of blood on his arm. "Deeks, you're hit?"

He shakes his head. "Just a nasty graze. Eyes on the sub, Fern!" He takes his left hand off the controls for a second to try to wipe the blood off on his jeans.

She nods and turns back in time to see a few divers climbing onto the sub. They're armed, and Kensi realizes that they're from the Coast Guard boat. She's about to relax when they hear gunfire over their headsets, and they realize that it's coming from the sub. The divers jump back into the water, and huge air bubbles come up from under the sub.

Kensi and Deeks exchange a look, and they both guess what must have happened. The sub's hull must have been punctured by a shot, and it's starting to take on water. As they watch in horror, the sub slowly starts to list, and water begins to pour into the hatch. Kensi is frozen in shock, but Deeks just starts yelling, "Callen! Sam! Get the hell out of that thing, it's going down! Callen! Sam! Do you copy? Get out now! Damn it, you two, respond!" Deeks sounds more desperate with every word, but they don't hear anything but silence as they watch the damaged sub slip slowly back beneath the surface.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note – No profit to be had here, just having a bit of fun with a show I love. **

**So, yeah, sorry about the cliffie, but I just had to do it (and at least I got this one up pretty quickly)! Hope y'all can forgive me! I **_**think**_** there will only be one more chapter after this one.**

**Once again, thank you for all of the lovely reviews and all of the follows and favorites – they mean the world to me! **

As Deeks and Kensi watch the sub slowly sink, they both feel vaguely ill. Out of the corner of his eye, Deeks sees Kensi put her rifle down and start to go for her belt. He immediately reaches over and grabs her arm. He can only hold on for a second before putting his right hand back on the controls, but it's enough to get her attention. "Kens, the divers are still in the water. If you go in, they just have to split their focus." He tries to ignore the fact that he felt a pulling pain in his side when he reached for her.

She looks at him, stricken, but she nods as tears pool in her eyes. She puts her hand on his right knee as she turns back to the water, staring at the sinking sub. He focuses on the same sight, but he's feeling a little lightheaded. Suddenly, Sam breaks the surface with someone under his arm. It only takes them a moment to see that it's an unconscious Callen. The divers are on them immediately, one helping Sam and the other towing Callen towards their small rescue launch.

Once they're aboard, the diver gets Callen turned on his side, and they all relax when they see their senior agent take a breath and start coughing. Sam waves a tired arm up at them in the chopper, his eyes widening slightly when he apparently sees that Deeks is the pilot.

Deeks would enjoy the moment more if it weren't for the fact that his vision is suddenly graying slightly. He takes his right hand off of the controls for a second again, and he touches his palm to his left side. His hand hits something wet, and he swears softly. He pulls his hand back, and he sees that it's covered in blood.

Kensi looks over at him in that moment, her face alight with joy that their friends are all right. She can't believe this all worked, but her face falls immediately when she sees Deeks staring at his bloody hand. "Marty!"

He jumps slightly and wraps his bloody hand back around the controls. His mind clears for a moment, and he grits out, "Nell, I need coordinates on the Coast Guard clipper now."

Nell rattles off the coordinates and then asks, "Are you going to wait for the guys?"

Kensi is blinking in shock as Deeks steers the chopper towards the coordinates Nell just gave him. He focuses on the ocean and sky in front of him. "Can't. I got clipped in the arm by a ricochet, but I think adrenaline masked the fact that it kept going and hit me in the side." Nell splutters in response, and Granger demands an explanation. Deeks just mutters, "Can't talk. Gotta fly."

Kensi swallows hard. "Director, he had to take off his vest in order to have enough freedom of movement to steer. I knew it hit his arm, but…" She has to choke down a sob.

At that moment, Sam's voice comes over the headsets. "Kensi, Deeks, where did you two go?"

Deeks just keeps his eyes on the view in front of them, and she can see that he's doing everything he can to stay focused. Kensi takes a deep breath. "Sam, Deeks got hit when the first guy fired. I think a shot ricocheted off of the chopper skid. It's not good, and he has to fly us. We're heading for a nearby Coast Guard clipper. I think the boat you're going to is going to meet us there."

"Kensi, what do you mean he has to fly you? My eyes weren't playing tricks on me?" Sam's voice is incredulous, and it riles Kensi.

"No, Sam, they weren't. Seems you've underestimated him yet again. Personally, I think it says a lot more about you than it does about him."

"Kens, I'm sorry, I didn't mean…" she can hear the contrition in Sam's voice, but she's pissed off and feeling awfully protective.

"Save it, Sam. You can apologize to him when we see you, maybe right after you thank him for helping save you. How's Callen?" Her voice makes it clear that she's not interested in his apology right now.

Sam sighs over the radio. "OK. Hit his head dodging a bullet, knocked him out cold. He breathed in some water when I was hauling him out of the sub, but he coughed it all up."

Granger's voice breaks in. "Agent Blye, how is Agent Deeks?"

Kensi's eyes have never left Deeks, and she can see that his hands are starting to shake a little. She glances out the windshield and sees with no small amount of relief that they're in sight of the clipper and closing fast. She hears Sam say, "_Agent_ Deeks?" but she ignores him.

"Not good, sir, but we're almost to the clipper. We need a med team waiting for us." Kensi's voice betrays the raw fear that's tearing at her.

Deeks takes as deep a breath as he can manage. The only upside to recognizing his injury but also having to keep Kensi safe is that the adrenaline is pumping again. He manages to grind out a few words. "Tell them to keep the pad clear. This may be a bit of a bumpy landing." He tries to judge their distance from the Coast Guard ship. "We're probably only a minute out."

"Why will it be bumpy?" Granger demands.

Kensi sees Deeks' hands wrap tighter around the controls, probably trying to stop the tremors. She softly says, "Granger, I think he's lost a lot of blood. His hands are shaking."

"Damn it," she's surprised by how upset the assistant director sounds, "I've got Jones talking to the ship. They'll be ready for you two."

The radio goes quiet, and she just keeps her hand on his knee. The clipper ship gets larger and larger as they get closer to it, and she unconsciously starts murmuring, "Almost there, almost there," over and over again.

She looks over at his face, and while he's very pale under his usual tan, his eyes seem steady. He senses her looking at him, so without taking his eyes off of the ship in front of them, he quietly says, "I got this, Fern." He'll be damned if he's the reason she gets hurt.

In return, she squeezes his knee. A few seconds later, they're over the clipper. She can see a medical team off to the edge of the marked landing pad, but they're hanging back as directed. The clipper gives him clearance to land when ready, and he slowly lowers them towards the deck. He starts to relax a little as they get closer, but then to his dismay, his hands begin to shake again.

It's all he can do to say, "Hold on, Kens," before he loses control a little. Luckily, they're almost down when that happens, so when they drop, it's just a few feet. They bang hard on the surface of the ship, jarring both of them pretty hard. In a last burst of energy, he reaches up and flips the switches to power down the chopper.

A few moments later, he sees the med team approaching the craft. He feels Kensi's hand grip his, and he hears her voice saying, "Baby, we're here, you did it. Stay with me, please. Please, Marty, stay with me." He wants to reply, but the blackness that has been threatening finally wins as the remaining adrenaline ebbs away.

Kensi feels his hand go slack in hers, so she un-does her harness and reaches around him to press against his injured side, desperately trying to staunch the flow of blood. She's horrified to find that his entire left side is soaked in blood. The doors on both sides are pulled open, but Kensi just yells, "It's him, I'm fine. He's hit in the arm and the side! Arm was a graze, don't know how bad the side is."

In under a minute, they have Deeks strapped to a gurney, and Kensi is running after them into the ship's interior. She hears them yelling to prep their emergency area, and she blinks when she realizes that a nurse is asking her if she knows his blood type. She chokes it out, amazed that she can call the fact to mind. A moment later, a pair of gentle hands guides her away. She looks around to see that it's an older female nurse. "I want to stay!"

"No, you need to let the doctors work." The woman shakes her head and leads her to a small patient room. In it, there is a pair of sweats, some thick socks and a Coast Guard sweatshirt.

Kensi blinks. "I'm fine – I didn't get wet or hurt or anything."

"Honey, you're covered in blood. I know you're OK, but you probably want to get out of those clothes." The woman gives her a sympathetic look.

Kensi looks down at herself, and she sees for the first time that the woman is right. Her shirt and hands are stained dark red, and there are stains all over her jeans from when she leaned over him and also from trying to wipe her hands as she ran behind the gurney. She has blood everywhere, _his_ blood. She looks around frantically, and a second later, she's on her knees emptying the contents of her stomach into a trash bin.

The nurse is right behind her, and she holds Kensi's ponytail out of the way and gently pats her back. When Kensi is done, she sinks to the floor, back against the wall. She pulls her knees to her chest and wraps her arms around them. The nurse crouches next to her. "Honey, you need a shower. There's a bathroom – she points to a small door – there's shampoo and soap in there. I'll go get you a toothbrush, too."

"Is Marty going to be all right?" Kensi's voice is small and terrified when she finally speaks.

"His name is Marty?"

"Special Agent Marty Deeks, NCIS." Kensi nods.

"OK, I'll tell you what," the woman gently coaxes her to her feet, "You get cleaned up, and I'll go get you a toothbrush and a status update on your…"

"Partner," Kensi replies automatically, but then she looks at the woman, whose soft, sympathetic brown eyes almost make her break down. She adds quickly, "And boyfriend. He's both – my partner and my boyfriend."

The woman nods. "I understand. Now shower," she points at the small room. "If you need anything before I come back, my name is Susan. Someone will find me."

"Thank you, Susan. I'm Kensi, Special Agent Kensi Blye."

"You're welcome, Kensi. I'll be right back."

Kensi has to swallow a sob as the woman leaves, but she shakes her head to stop the tears. She follows instructions, stripping off her bloody clothes and climbing into the shower. Unfortunately, standing there under the flow of hot water just reminds her of their shower together that morning, and the tears come then. She finally gives into them, standing there and sobbing for several minutes until she can get it back under control.

Fifteen minutes later, she steps out of the bathroom. Susan had dropped off the toothbrush and toothpaste, and Kensi is feeling human again. As she emerges from the bathroom, hair loose and damp but combed, and borrowed sweats on, Susan enters the small exam room.

Before Kensi can ask, the woman holds up a hand and says, "He's lost a lot of blood, but they think he's going to be fine. He has a nasty three inch gash on his left arm, and the bullet then embedded itself in his side. Luckily, it hitting his arm slowed it down, so it's just soft-tissue damage, no organs. It bled a lot, though. He's in surgery getting cleaned up and they're transfusing him. They think he'll be in recovery in under an hour, maybe as soon as thirty minutes."

Kensi almost collapses in relief, and then another thought occurs to her. "Has anyone else been brought aboard?"

Susan nods. "Yes. They're asking for you, Agents Hanna and Callen." She opens the door and motions for Kensi to follow her. "They're both dehydrated, and Agent Callen has a concussion, but they're otherwise all right. The triage nurse put them both on an IV to get them hydrated."

They get to an open door, and Kensi enters the room at Susan's direction, only to find Sam and Callen, both similarly attired to her, inside. "Kensi!" Callen notices her first, and Kensi walks over to where he sits on the edge of a bed. She lets him pull her into a light hug, and she hears him murmur, "Thanks," in her ear.

She nods, stepping back. She turns when she hears an IV stand rolling up behind her, and before she knows it, Sam has her caught up in a bone-crushing hug. He speaks first, "I'm sorry, Kensi, I truly didn't mean anything by my reaction earlier. I was just surprised. I had no idea he could fly."

He releases her and steps back, and she can see how upset he is. She shakes her head. "No, Sam, I'm sorry. I totally overreacted. I was freaking out about him being hurt, and I went over-protective. I know you didn't mean anything. And before you ask, it's a long story but he's quitting LAPD and joining us. Hetty started the ball rolling a while ago, but it took Granger and Director Vance to push him across the line. That's why Granger called him Agent Deeks. The paperwork is done, Bates was just holding his LAPD resignation until after this op, because the chopper belongs to LAPD."

Callen speaks up. "Kens, is he OK?"

She nods, swallowing back the tears again. "The nurse said that it's just soft-tissue damage to his side. Didn't hit anything vital, but it bled a lot. They're patching him up and transfusing him now."

"I can't believe he managed to get you here with a bullet wound in the side. Piloting a chopper is pretty physical, and the wind has picked up out there. That took a lot of fortitude." Sam's voice is full of admiration.

Kensi gives him a small smile. "I think it was touch and go, but he kept it together. I'm pretty sure there was some serious adrenaline working. The landing was a bump – I think he just was done. He blacked out within seconds of shutting the chopper down." The tears pool in her eyes again at the thought of that moment. Sam clearly senses her distress, and he pulls her back to him in a hug. She clings onto him, and they stay that way for a while.

Still holding her, he finally says, "So, a pilot?"

She chuckles and hears Callen do the same. "Just helicopters. He learned when he was a kid. Long story and his to tell, but he's been fully licensed since he was eighteen. Said he keeps his hours up on weekends when he can."

Sam releases her, and she jumps up on the edge of the bed next to Callen, who looks at her intently. "You've been crying."

"Very observant of you, Callen." She shoots him a sharp look.

He holds up his hands. "I'm just worried about you, Kens."

"He could have died, Callen. He could have died trying to save you and trying to protect me. We finally are getting to be OK, and he could have…" she has to stop, tears threatening again.

Callen and Sam exchange a look, and after a rather comical exchange of head nods and raised eyebrows, Kensi rolls her eyes and snorts. "You guys are such cowards. Yes. We're actually sorting out our Thing. And yes, Granger knows, and no he doesn't care. As long as he doesn't catch us making out," at their disgusted faces, she says, "Hey, his words!"

Sam cracks his knuckles. "We're going to have to talk to our boy Deeks."

Callen also gets a glint in his eye. "Agreed. Got to look after the baby sister."

"Excuse me." Kensi stands and puts her hands on her hips. They look at her as though they'd actually forgotten she was there. "You will do no such thing." They both start to protest, but she isn't having it. "You will not go big brother on him, either of you. First, he'd never hurt me. If you don't know that, you don't know him. Second, if he ever _did_ hurt me, he'd answer to _me._ Period. You two can take your caveman big brother crap and shove it up your…"

"Agent Blye?" She spins around to see a highly amused-looking nurse Susan standing there. "Marty is awake and asking for you." She furrows her brow. "Well, actually, he's asking for 'Fern,' but when I asked if he meant 'Kensi,' he said yes. Then he started saying, 'Fern, Kensi, Kens, Kensalina, Princess,' and several more names over and over. So, I'm fairly sure he meant you."

Kensi blushes a little and looks down. "Yeah. Those are all me."

The nurse beckons, and Kensi goes to follow her. Before she leaves, though, she turns and levels a hard look at a shocked Callen and Sam. "You heard me. One cross word at the guy who just nearly died saving your asses? You answer to me. Clear?" They just nod, wide-eyed. "Good. Now come and see him when you're done with your IVs. He was just as worried about you two as I was."

With a smirk, she follows Susan down the hall of the ship. A few doors down, she turns into a bright white room. If it wasn't for the gentle motion of the water, it could be mistaken for any military infirmary room. She pauses in the doorway when she sees him propped up in the bed. He's shirtless, and his torso is swathed with a large bandage, reminding her of the first time she saw him in a hospital bed.

This time, the IV line is in his right hand, as his left arm is also bandaged. He's still pale, but his color is definitely improving. Susan sees that she's frozen, so the nurse comes back to her and takes her arm, gently steering her towards the bed. "He's OK, honey."

Kensi nods. "I know, I've just seen him like this too many times."

Susan squeezes her arm and leaves them alone, telling her to call if they need anything. For now, he's hooked up to a heart monitor, and the steady, strong beat reassures her somewhat. The difference between the first time she saw him like this and now, though, is that she perches on the edge of the bed, taking his right hand carefully in her left, and reaching up with her free hand to brush his hair out of his eyes.

Her touch wakes him, and his eyes blink open. "Hey, Fern."

She smiles and leans forward to press her lips to his, and his left hand comes up to slip into her hair, She pulls back slightly, touching her forehead to his. "You scared me, Shaggy."

"Sorry, Princess. Next time, I'm wearing the damned vest. I'm a strong swimmer, and treading water beats the crap out of getting shot."

She leans back, shaking her head with a laugh. "Really, Deeks? Trying to be funny?"

He pulls her back to him and kisses her again. "You laughed, didn't you?" He shifts a little and hisses when it pulls at his side.

"Do you need more pain meds?" Her brow furrows in concern.

He shakes his head. "No. I'm good. I really don't want to be groggy, and it's not that bad."

They both look towards the door when they hear the sound of wheels on tile floors, and they laugh, Deeks with a wince, when Callen and Sam appear in the doorway, both rolling their IV stands. Kensi shakes her head and beckons them in.

They both roll their IVs over to the bed, sinking into the two chairs sitting to Deeks' left. Sam leans back and props his feet on the end of Deeks' bed, Callen doing the same at the middle of the bed. Deeks looks at Kensi and raises his good arm, gesturing with his head. Kensi slides up closer to Deeks and ducks under his arm to curl up next to his good side, resting her head on his shoulder and carefully wrapping an arm across his waist. Once she's settled, he wraps his arm around her.

They're all silent for a moment before Deeks can't stop himself from saying, "You went into a strange submarine? _Really_?"

Callen and Sam glare at him, but Kensi just laughs. He goes on, "I mean seriously, guys, smoke bombs, or maybe just wait for them? But no, _both of you_ get in a strange sub. Makes total sense."

The two senior agents try to maintain their irritated expressions, but after a moment, they both start to laugh. Kensi and Deeks laugh along with them, Deeks wincing again. Over his protests, Kensi calls for Susan, who gives him a shot of pain meds in his IV. She grins at the laughing foursome, and she informs them that they're heading for the San Pedro Coast Guard station, and that they'll be there in an hour and a half or so.

Deeks is getting sleepy from the meds, but Sam stands up to look at him. "Looks like I owe you again, Deeks."

Callen nods. "We both do. And officially welcome to the team."

Deeks shrugs and smiles in embarrassment. "You don't owe me anything. It's what we do, right?"

Sam shakes his head. "I don't know, it seems like it keeps happening. I mean, hell, this is three times in a year, man. Anyone who ever tries to call you our weak link again is an idiot, and they'll have to answer to me."

Deeks reaches out with his left hand, and Sam takes it. He then steps out of the way, and Callen does the same. "I'm with Sam. We owe you, and we need you, Probie."

Rolling his eyes, Deeks just laughs. "And the name calling begins."

Sam and Callen both settle back into their chairs, feet going back up on the bed. Kensi snuggles closer to Deeks and says, "Suck it up, Shaggy. Welcome to Hazing 101."

Deeks would argue, but he feels the pain medication dragging him under. In seconds, he's fast asleep again, and Kensi follows quickly, almost as tired as he is. Sam and Callen shrug and exchange a look before leaning back in their chairs. As they near San Pedro, Susan comes to let them know they're almost to port. She smiles when she enters the room to see all four agents sleeping soundly, and she decides to leave them be for as long as possible. She's pretty sure they've all had a pretty long day.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note – No profit to be had here, just having a bit of fun with a show I love. **

**There will only be one more chapter after this one – this was going to be it, but it got too long, so here's part one of the wrap up. The last chapter will probably be shorter, maybe more like an epilogue.**

**If you're still a big Hetty fan (I say "still" because I **_**used **_**to be one myself), this chapter and the one to come may not sit well with you, but frankly I was thrilled that she was getting some comeuppance in the finale. It was one of the few things about the finale that I really liked – the writers have taken a character I really liked and made her far more manipulative and unkind than I can stomach. I still adore Linda Hunt – but Hetty? Not so much.**

**Thanks again for all of the lovely reviews and all of the follows and favorites!**

_Ten Days Later_

Deeks sits on the beach, staring out at the waves. Monty is sprawled out next to him, feet up in the air and snoozing in the intermittent mid-afternoon sun on this unusually cool and cloudy early June day. He can't surf yet, his side (and Kensi, really more Kensi than his side) won't let him. Granger had the whole team on leave until yesterday, but while he had the others return, he told Deeks to stay home until Wednesday.

It's Monday today, and he's not enjoying being on his own. He did get cleared to drive, so this morning after Kensi left his apartment, he got in his car and went to see Bates. That went better than expected, with Bates actually being nice to him. It was, in a word, weird. He also feels slightly insulted by the number of times Bates called him, "Someone else's problem." He scored a few new t-shirts for Kensi, though, so he decided to call the morning a win. After getting home, he grabbed Monty, some water and a power bar, and he walked down here.

He smiles a little as he thinks about Kensi. Until today, she's barely left his side for ten days. When they got off of the Coast Guard clipper at San Pedro, Granger had two ambulances there waiting for them. Under protest, Deeks and the guys were all transported to Pacific Beach Medical. They checked Sam out and released him, but Callen and Deeks were both kept overnight. Callen grumbled a lot, but with his concussion, the doctors demanded that he be kept for observation.

Sam went home to Michelle, but Kensi only left long enough to go by each of their homes to get clothes for them and to walk and feed Monty. According to her, when she got back to the hospital, Joelle was there fussing over Callen. Callen introduced Kensi as a "work friend," but Kensi took great pleasure in telling him about the shade of pink that Callen turned when he introduced Joelle as his girlfriend.

Despite the disapproval of the nurses, she'd spent that night just as she'd slept on the clipper ship – curled into his good side, arm draped protectively across him. They'd released him the following afternoon with an admonition to take it easy for several days, with no significant physical activity for at least ten days – which Kensi heard and took to heart. He's starting to get a little cranky about that, to be honest.

Sleeping next to Kensi for ten nights without doing more than cuddling has left him a little frustrated. She barely even lets him kiss her, just "in case it goes too far." But she has also basically moved into his apartment. She has taken over two drawers in the dresser and a small section (small but growing) of his closet. When she came in yesterday with an armload of hanging clothes and a duffel full of shoes, she just shrugged and said you never know what you'll need.

He's definitely not complaining about that, but it's also one more thing that's weird. They also have yet to have the talk they need to have about Afghanistan. He tried to raise it once or twice, but she just tries to steer the conversation to lighter things. So far, he has let her.

He's so lost in thought that he doesn't hear it when someone walks up behind him, so he jumps when he hears a woman's voice say softly, "Come here often, sailor?"

He looks up in surprise as Kensi drops onto the sand to his left. Her demeanor _seems _relaxed, but he can tell something's up. "Kens, what are you doing here? Why aren't you at the mission?"

She takes off her boots and socks before pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. She stays quiet and stares at the water, and he can see that she's brooding about something. "Fern, are you all right?"

"I'm fine." She keeps her eyes on the water.

He snorts. "_Really_? We're back to 'fine?'"

She shrugs. "And it means what it usually means."

"Kens," he's getting worried now, "What's going on?"

"Hetty will be back tomorrow." He doesn't know how to reply to that, but she saves him by going on, "Granger sent me home, told me to take a few days. He knows that I know what happened now."

He furrows his brow, "What does that mean, Fern?" She takes a deep, shuddering breath, and suddenly he realizes that she's trying not to cry. He immediately moves closer to her and wraps his left arm around her shoulders, pulling her to him. Luckily, his side is mostly healed, and it doesn't hurt at all. She doesn't speak, so he tries again. "Kens? Please talk to me."

She turns into him and wraps her arms around his waist. "Granger told us that Hetty would be here tomorrow, and then he looked at Nell and told her to take me to lunch. There was something odd about the way he said it, and Nell looked completely stunned. She then just nodded, and I left with her. We actually grabbed some food from a food truck and sat in her car to eat."

"OK…" He's confused, but then something occurs to him and makes his stomach drop. "Did she show you the picture?"

"Which one? There were a few she shared with me." She sounds broken and it's killing him.

He swallows hard, not wanting to think about it, much less describe it. His voice is barely a whisper when he replies, "It was…you. In the cave. And you were…" He can't say it out loud, and he pulls her tighter to him side, making him wince slightly.

Kensi tenses and sits up slightly. "You _saw_ that? How did you see it? Nell didn't say anything…"

"Hetty told me they found a picture of you that they believed to be doctored, and I demanded that they send it to me on my phone."

"And she _told them to_? What the hell was she thinking?" Kensi forgets her own issues with Hetty for the moment, now furious that they'd allow him to see that awful picture. "I'm so sorry, Marty. She never should have shown you that."

"You saw it?" He looks at her, eyes stormy with memories and pain, voice still a choked whisper.

"Nell showed it to me today. I don't remember them taking it – I think it must have been one of the times I was unconscious," she pauses, "Nell said Callen found it on a computer they left behind in the cave." He nods absently, but his silence is unnerving. "I'm so sorry she showed that to you. If she'd shown me a picture of you like that, I would have lost it."

He closes his eyes at that. After a moment, he stands and walks to the edge of the water, letting the water wash over his bare feet. She rolls up her jeans and follows him. "Marty?"

"I did."

"What?" She furrows her brow.

"I lost it. I lost it completely. And then I…oh God…I never wanted to admit this to you." He looks down at her with tears in his eyes. "This is why I pushed you away, Kens. I hate myself. I hate what I almost became when I thought I'd lost you. I'm afraid I could become that again."

"Marty…"

"I started to water board a blind, old man, Kensi. He was tied up, and I…" he sinks to his knees in the surf, almost as if the water can make him clean again, and he covers his face with his hands.

Her heart breaks as she watches him start to fall apart, and not caring that her jeans are getting completely soaked, she kneels behind him and wraps her arms around his waist. She presses herself to his back and holds him to her. "Marty, I can't fix this, but I'm so sorry. All I can do is promise to try to always be here for you. That isn't who you are. And from what you said, you stopped."

He's silent for a moment, but then she feels him take another deep, shuddering breath. "Yeah. I did stop, but after Sidorov, how could I even _consider_ torturing someone, Kens? How could I become that?"

She stands up and moves further into the surf, crouching in front of him. "But you didn't, Deeks. You didn't become that. If you had, you wouldn't have stopped, and if you had, it wouldn't be haunting you now. Sidorov wouldn't give a damn. He would've tortured that old man until the old man died or talked. And then he probably would have killed him anyway."

He bites his lip, and she can see tears on his face beneath his hands. She reaches up and takes his hands in hers, pulling them from his face and twining their fingers together. "You are one of the best people I know. I won't let you hate yourself, do you hear me? You do _not_ deserve it." She looks down at their joined hands, squeezing tight.

He looks up at her when he feels a shiver go through her. He realizes that she's basically sitting in the water, and it's a relatively cool afternoon. "Kens!" He stands back up, keeping their hands linked, and he pulls her up with him. "You're soaked. Come on, let's go home and get you into something warm and dry, OK?"

"Deeks, we need to talk about all of this." She resists when he tries to pull her towards the parking area where he guesses her car is.

He releases her hands and pulls her to him. "You're right, we do. But it's not worth you getting a cold. Let's go home and talk about this where we can fall apart without an audience."

At his words, Kensi looks around and notices that even with the cool temperatures, there are several other people on the beach, and more than a couple of them are staring at her and Deeks. She nods. "Touché, Max."

He pulls back and looks at her in shock. "You used it right!"

She smiles despite the heaviness in her heart right now. "I know. I do know how to use it, Marty."

He smiles back and retakes her hand. This time she doesn't resist when he starts to pull her along again. They put on their shoes, grab his water bottle and Monty's leash and, calling Monty, they head for the car. When they get to it, she goes to the back. She pulls out a few towels that she's been keeping there basically since partnering up with him. With Deeks, you never know when you're going to end up at a beach. When she's pulling the towels out, he notices her large duffel in the back, and it's clearly packed full. Next to it, there are two grocery bags, both also full.

She closes the back and hands him one of the towels along with the keys, and without a word, she beckons to Monty. She spreads a towel in the backseat for him, and he hops up and sprawls on it. She then climbs into the passenger seat in the front. He's already in the driver's seat, giving her a funny look, clearly curious as to why she's letting him drive. She just shrugs. "It's already been a long day."

He nods and starts the car, pulling away and heading towards his apartment. When they get there, he shuts the engine off and turns to look at her. "Do you need to get the stuff out of the back?"

"Yes. But I'll get the duffel. It's heavy, and you don't need to be lifting stuff like that yet." He grunts at that but doesn't fight her on it. She goes around to the back while he gets Monty.

He gets to the back as she goes to pick up the second grocery bag. She already has her duffel and the first bag in hand. "No way, Fern. You have to let me get at least one bag. Give me at least a shred of dignity."

She smirks a little, and she can't help but appreciate that even with his earlier breakdown, under the surface, Deeks is still just _Deeks_. "OK, Max. But take this one," she hands him the first one, "It's lighter."

He rolls his eyes but takes the bag from her. Out of curiosity, after she grabs the other bag and they start walking in, he peers into the bag he's carrying. "God, Kens, how many Twinkies are in here?"

She blushes lightly. "I don't know. I built up a stash back when I thought they'd never be making them again. I've been slowly working my way through them – it's not like they're going to go bad or anything. That's what's left." At his incredulous look, she defends, "What? I _like_ Twinkies. Sue me, counselor, or let it go."

"Hey, considering how much coffee and pizza I consume, I'm living in a glass house. Consider it let go, Fern." He shakes his head and unlocks the door.

Once they're inside, it's suddenly awkward in a way it hasn't been in almost two weeks. She murmurs something about getting out of her wet clothes, and she retreats to the bedroom with her duffel.

Despite the fact that they've recently pretty much been completely casual about changing in front of each other, he suddenly feels as though she wants a little space. After turning on the coffee maker, he waits for the sound of her going into the bathroom and closing the door before he follows, wanting to change out of his board shorts and damp t-shirt.

He's already into some sweatpants and clean socks and about to put on a clean t-shirt when she emerges from the bathroom. She's clad in some leggings, slouchy socks and one of his sweatshirts, one from his college days at UCLA. She clearly washed her face, and her hair is braided into low pigtails. For a moment he's able to picture her as a teenager, because she suddenly looks impossibly young.

She comes over to him, eyeing his bare torso. "How is your side? You didn't get any saltwater on it, did you?" Her voice is laced with concern as she first examines the mostly-healed gash to his arm, and then as she leans forward and runs her fingers along the also mostly-healed place where the bullet embedded itself in his side.

"Kens, it's fine. It got a little damp, but it's healed."

She shakes her head, grabbing his hand and dragging him to the bathroom behind her. After closing the lid on the toilet, she directs him to sit down on it. He decides not to argue. He has already learned that Kensi sometimes wants to fuss over him, and it's simpler to just let her. He watches as she wets a clean washcloth and uses it to gently wipe down his side and arm.

She then hands him a clean towel, and he dries off the two areas while she gets some of the antibiotic cream he has left. She dabs it on his side and on his arm, and she puts a loose bandage on his side, which he'll admit is a little sore and pink. He knows it's fine, given that it's unfortunately not his first time with a healing gunshot wound.

When she finishes, she goes back to his bedroom and grabs the clean t-shirt he'd gotten out. He follows her, taking it from her and pulling it over his head. He turns and heads for the kitchen. "Sofa, Kens," he directs as he passes through the living room, knowing she's behind him.

He makes himself some coffee and her a cup of hot tea, and he brings the two mugs and one of the Twinkies with him back to the living room. She watches him from where she's already curled on the sofa, hugging the cat pillow to her chest. She knows they're about to talk about _her _experiences in Afghanistan, and she's dreading it.

At the same time, though, she's ready. She knows she should've talked to someone more than just the very dry and clinical psychologist Hetty made her see before allowing her to return to work, but she just didn't want to. Maybe if it had been Nate, she'd have talked more out. But the person had been a stranger and oddly lacking in warmth and empathy – he hadn't exactly made her feel like spilling her guts.

Deeks settles next to her on the sofa, placing the Twinkie on the coffee table and handing her the tea mug. She murmurs a thanks as he gets comfortable. He nods. "I'm sorry about earlier."

She blinks in surprise at that. "Why? What do you have to be sorry about?"

"We were talking about you, and then that damned picture came up and I made it all about me." He shakes his head.

"Deeks, you needed to tell me what you told me – hell, I'm pretty sure that I'm just about the only one who knows."

"Just about." He stares into his coffee mug. "Makar and Granger know too. I don't think Hetty does, even with her disturbing Amazing Kreskin-like ways."

Normally, she'd have snorted at that last bit about Hetty, but these days talking about Hetty doesn't exactly put her in a good head space. Almost as though he can sense her thoughts, he looks up at her. "What did Nell tell you at lunch today?"

"She told me everything she knows about Afghanistan and why I was there. Hetty had ordered her and Eric to not reveal anything they found out in Ops, but Nell took Granger's direction to take me to lunch as a direct order to get me up to speed." Kensi puts down her mug and begins to play with the end of one of her braids. "Nell opened with telling me she has wanted to learn to be like Hetty, but that this operation changed that."

"Damn," Deeks breathes out, knowing how much Nell respects, or maybe that should be "respected," Hetty.

"Yeah," Kensi nods absently before taking a deep breath, "She used me, Marty. Hetty played me like a violin, and I trusted her so much that I just went right along with it, believing her every moment."

"Back up, Kens, how did she play you?" Deeks furrows his brow, and he can feel anger start to burn deep inside.

Kensi pulls her knees up to her chest and wraps her arms around her legs. Her voice is barely a whisper when she says, "She knew Jack. She's always known him, and she knew he was the 'white ghost.' She knew I'd never take the shot. She sent me there as a way to protect Jack from the CIA. I just screwed up her plan when I went to try to find Jack on my own."

"What do you mean by she knew him?" He scoots closer to her on the sofa and wraps an arm protectively around her shoulders.

"She _always_ knew him. She knew about my relationship with him, knew him then. That's one of the other pictures she had up in ops. A picture of me and Jack when we were together, back before his PTSD. Nell showed it to me – it's a picture I had in my personal box of stuff that Hetty lets me keep at the mission. I don't know how she got a copy of it, but now I wonder if she didn't go into my stuff. Nell thinks she always had it, though."

"So she set us both up? She sent you _and_ Granger on some super-secret mission with less than all of the facts, and she continually allowed me to beat myself up, blame myself for you being there?"

"She even told me that she thought there was a mole. She had me running down rabbit trails, having Nell and Eric research Sabatino, everything. That part was pretty clearly a lie, too. The only good part of that was that she gave you a sat phone too." She looks up at him with tears on her lashes, "Talking to you at Christmas may have been the best gift I ever got in my life, and our talks and IM sessions after that were what kept me going. The idea of getting back to you is what kept me moving forward."

He uses his free hand to brush away the tears on her cheeks, and he leans forward and presses a soft kiss to her lips. When he pulls back, he rests his forehead against hers. She keeps her eyes closed and says, "And then I had to go throw a wrench in everything by not taking the shot on Jack, not telling Granger I recognized our 'target,' and running off in the middle of the night. I was such an idiot, Marty, about everything. It _never_ would have occurred to me to not trust Hetty. That nearly cost me, Granger, you, Sam, Callen, and even Sabatino our lives."

He tries to lighten things for a moment, "Well, most of those would be a loss. Don't know about Sabatino." She snorts, but she doesn't smile. They're both quiet for a while, but he eventually says something he's wanted to say for a while, "Kens, I want you to know something – I'm not going to push you to tell me what happened in the cave. If you want to tell me, if you need to, I'm here to listen. But I know better than just about anyone that pushing you to talk about it won't help, and you talking to me about this is in no way some sort of requirement for us moving forward, for us being together."

She nods and turns towards him, wrapping her arms around his waist and getting as close to him as she can, almost as though his larger shape can protect her from everything including her own feelings. Despite his words, though, she takes a deep, shuddering breath and says, "I know, and I can't tell you how much that means to me. But I do want to tell you a few things."

"OK," he squeezes her tight, holding her as close to him as he can get her.

She first tells him about Jack. She wants him to know out of respect, but also because she wants him to know for certain that there isn't anything lingering there. When she finishes that story, she offers, "You know, I felt heartbroken for a little while, but then I started to feel angry. If they hadn't decided to take me out and use me as a punching bag for a while, I might have worked my way all the way up to pissed off."

She sighs. "At the end, though, after we were free, I found myself letting go and forgiving him. I hope he stays safe. I don't love him anymore – I haven't for a long time. But I hope he's as happy as he can be, and I hope he survives, you know?"

He stays quiet, afraid to interrupt. A moment later, she goes on, "And he tried hard to make them focus on him instead of me. He talked to them in Pashto a lot, and I don't know what he said to them but, while they did drag me to the back of the cave," she feels him tense next to her, and she adds, "They never abused me in any way but beating me up, Marty. Maybe a grope here or there, but I've been touched more on an op here than I ever was in that cave."

He relaxes at that and presses a kiss to her temple. "I'm glad to hear that Fern, but you do know it wouldn't have made a difference to me, right? It wouldn't change how I feel about you?"

She nods and says, "I know," but she also clings a little tighter to him. "After a while, it just turned into one long beating. Sometimes, they'd beat us up in front of each other, making one watch while the other one was the target. One of them smoked, and he really liked pulling up my clothes and burning my back with them." She sniffles. "The worst part was feeling so trapped and helpless, though. I got to the point where I kind of wanted to die."

He squeezes her to him again. "I get that, Kens, believe me. I felt that way with Sidorov." She looks up at him in surprise, and he shrugs. "That was when I started to focus on you. That was when I went to you in my head. The first moment when I thought that death would be preferable to them putting that drill in my mouth again."

An involuntary shiver goes through her, and he wants to make it better. "I'm OK now, you know? Not the same as I was before that – I don't think you _can_ be the same after something like that, or after your time in the cave. I just hope you let me help you. I tried so hard to shut out the world after Sidorov, and it wasn't good for me. It made it worse. I didn't really start to get better until I talked to Nate and then you showed up on my doorstep with some Yummy Yummy Heart Attack and a stale cronut."

"I thought a lot about you when I was in that cave. I thought about moments like this, just us being…_us_…curled up on your couch, watching _Top Model_, no one shooting at us or trying to kill us. Just us. Marty and Kensi. When you strip away everything else, that's all I want to be. I just want to be Marty and Kensi."

"I like that idea, but don't forget Monty the Wonder Dog. We're nothing without Monty the Wonder Dog." He kisses her temple again.

She laughs softly at that, a happy, genuine sound that makes his heart lighten a little. "Kens?"

"What?" She looks up at him with a curious expression.

He swallows hard, but then he says something he knows he should have said a long time ago. "I love you. You know that, right?"

Her mouth opens in surprise, and tears come to her eyes again. After a moment, she blinks a few times and then hugs him tight again, burying her face in his scruffy neck. He can feel her tears on his skin when she mumbles, "I love you too, Marty."

They stay like that, curled together on the sofa, for a long time, both sort of stunned at themselves for actually saying how they feel. Eventually, he stretches out, and turns on his right side, and she stretches out with him. She continues to hold onto him as she winds up between him and the back of the sofa, and she entangles her legs with his to keep them close together. He reaches up and grabs a big pillow, and he positions it under their heads.

He drifts off to sleep for a while, and she follows close behind him, feeling completely at ease. A few hours later, Monty climbs up on the sofa, front legs up over Deeks' hip, and whimpers a little. They both are startled awake, but when they realize that it's just Monty, they both laugh and sit up. Monty jumps off of the sofa and returns a moment later dragging his leash.

Deeks has to grin at that. "OK, fella. I can take a hint."

Kensi stands up, laughing. "Only when applied with a sledgehammer."

"That wounds me, Fern. That wounds me deep." He puts a hand to his heart and does his best to look pathetic.

She just rolls her eyes. "Take him out. It's getting late, and I'm hungry. I'll order dinner. Pizza?"

"Works for me," he grins, "And there's beer in the fridge."

As he turns to put Monty's leash on him, Kensi catches his arm. "Marty, wait."

He turns back to her, and before he can ask her what's going on, she presses her lips to his. It's a sweet, soft kiss, and she pulls back a moment later. "We should have done that after what we said earlier. Way better than my whole crying-as-a-response thing."

He smiles, and he leans down and kisses her again. It's still soft, but there's also a possessive edge to it that she likes. "You're right, we should have done that earlier, but just so you know, you never have to be afraid to cry around me, Fern."

"Same to you, Max." She smiles up at him. "You be my safe place, and I'll be yours."

His smile turns into a full on grin, but it lacks his usual humor – it's just pure happiness. "That may be the best offer I've ever had in my life, Kensi. And I mean that."

"Good. Because it's how things are going to be from now on. Oh, and by the way, I gave my landlord my 30 days' notice. We need to get Sam and Callen to help finish moving me in here this weekend, though, because he actually has someone who he thinks will want my place."

He looks shocked again, even though he'd kind of been expecting that. After a moment of silence, she just grins. "Go walk Monty, Marty. Our dog looks like he's getting a little anxious."

Her calling Monty "our dog" finally breaks through his fog. He laughs, and before he leaves, he yells, "Don't let me forget to call Ray later."

"Why?" she calls back from the kitchen.

"I've got to tell him how my thing is working out with Wikipedia." As he closes the door behind him, he can hear her laughter follow him. He leads Monty down the stairs and mutters, "Yep. Ray's going to love this."


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note – No profit to be had here, just having a bit of fun with a show I love. **

**This is it for this story – I've had so much fun writing it! There's a wee bit of sexytimes here, but nothing graphic at all – definitely a T. : ) As noted before, if you're still a big Hetty fan (I say "still" because I **_**used **_**to be one myself), this chapter a may not sit well with you – consider yourself warned! **

**Thanks again for all of the lovely reviews and all of the follows and favorites (can't believe have almost 100 follows!).**

The next morning, Kensi wakes up with her body molded into Deeks' good side, nothing between them but tiny gaps of space. She has her arm across his naked chest, and her bare legs are twined with his.

Waking up with him like this reminds her of that morning before everything fell apart, but this time she doesn't feel any sort of dread or worry. All she feels is safe and happy. She sighs and nuzzles her face into his neck before dropping a kiss on his collarbone. She feels him shift next to her, and she mumbles, "Good morning."

He smiles but doesn't open his eyes. He has been awake for a while, just enjoying having her with him like this. Last night was truly amazing. Their first night together had been pretty incredible, but last night was different – it felt more real and decidedly more…permanent. Their first night, all those months ago, had been about heat and connection, resolving _years _of pent up sexual tension.

Last night, though, while again being about connection, was also more about showing each other how they feel, truly giving themselves to each other. He mentally rolls his eyes at himself, realizing that his brain seems to be turning into a schmaltzy romance novel – but it's still the truth. He runs a hand through her hair and finally opens his eyes. "Morning, Sunshine."

She perches her chin on his chest and looks up at him. "Sleep well?"

He cups the back of her head with his hand and pulls her face towards his so that he can press a slow, deep kiss to her lips. When he pulls back a minute later, he smiles against her lips. "Yes. You?"

She grins and moves quickly so that she's straddling his hips. Kensi in all of her early-morning naked glory, lips swollen from kissing and hair tumbling every which way, literally takes his breath away. She leans forward, her hair curtaining their faces, and she starts kissing along his collarbone again. "Not bad at all. You up for round two, Agent Deeks?"

He rolls his hips into hers, making her gasp. He grins at her and grips her hips tight in his hands. "Agent Blye, your investigative skills are letting you down if you have to ask, because I'm guessing that it's painfully obvious that I'm 'up' for whatever you want to do with me." She laughs out loud at that, and he leans up to kiss her again. Right before he does, he says, "And I'm pretty sure it's round _three._"

**KD**KD**KD**

It's well over an hour later when he walks into the kitchen to turn the coffeemaker on. His hair is still damp from their post-activities shower, and he can hear her hair dryer running in the bathroom. He took Monty out before their shower, and he dumps some dry food in a bowl for him and refills his water bowl. The dog is on the food immediately, tail thumping happily on the floor.

Once his cup of coffee is ready, he sips at it as hers makes; when it's done, he doctors it up for her (with far more sugar than he could stomach) and takes it and his own with him back to the bathroom. When he gets there, he puts her cup on the counter and sits down on the closed toilet lid to watch her finish her hair. She's dressed in jeans and a bra right now, and he is more than willing to admit that he's enjoying the show.

A few moments later, she turns off the dryer, satisfied that her hair is dry enough and glad that her own dryer was in the big bag she brought over the day before. She shakes out her dark mane and pauses to pick up her coffee and take a sip of it. Over the edge of her cup, she sees him watching her, and she smiles. "Thanks."

"Anytime." He grins at her. "So, what's on the agenda for today, Fern?" He gets a little more serious. He doesn't want to push her, but he also knows that they have one thing left to discuss – what to do about Hetty.

Almost as if she can read his thoughts, her face falls a little. She puts down her cup and pulls on her t-shirt before brushing her hair back into a messy ponytail. "Granger told me to stay home today if I want to, but I don't think I want to. I want to go hash this out now, because if she doesn't own her part in all of this, I don't know if I can work with her." She looks at him shyly. "Will you come with me?"

He stands up immediately, taking her into his arms. "Where else would I be, Princess? Right by your side is the only place that works for me at this point."

She nods and melts into his embrace, arms going around his waist. A thought occurs to her. "How is _your _side?"

He squeezes her a little. "It's fine, Kens. Not even sore." He steps away. "Now let's go get breakfast and talk about how we want to approach this."

She nods. "I want to put on a little makeup, and we can go."

"You don't need it, but then I'm pretty sure you already know I think that." She blushes lightly and inclines her head, and he cups her cheek with his palm. "I'll take Monty out again, give you a few minutes."

"OK. I'll be ready in five." She watches him go, unable to believe that their Thing seems to have finally worked out and become a hell of a lot more than just a Thing. She also wonders if they can get Sam, Callen, Eric and Nell to help them move more of her stuff over this weekend. Turning to the mirror, she pulls out her makeup bag, grinning as she thinks about Sam and Callen and how they'll react to the news that she's moving in with Deeks. Parts of today will likely suck, but at least telling them promises to be fun.

Twenty minutes later, they pull up to a diner they both favor. Once they're seated in a booth and have ordered (egg white omelet and fruit for him, chocolate chip pancakes and bacon for her, causing him to chuckle and shake his head), he grabs her hand and squeezes it. "So, how do we want to do this today?"

She sighs and shakes her head. "I don't know. I think we want to find Granger first and find out what the story is. He made it clear when I talked to him yesterday that he will be here – Hetty coming back didn't seem to change anything from his perspective."

Making gentle circles on the back of her hand with his thumb, he muses, "Maybe Hetty's suspended or something. If that's the case, I bet Callen and Sam are pretty unhappy. I bet they don't know what we know."

"You're right. We don't." Callen's voice makes them jump, and they look up in surprise to see both him and Sam standing there. They look upset, and Kensi and Deeks exchange a concerned glance.

They scoot into their seats in the booth. Callen sits next to Kensi, leaving Sam to scoot in with Deeks. Kensi is briefly entertained by the sight of the two biggest members of the team somewhat squeezed together while she and Callen have plenty of room. Deeks clearly sees her amusement, and he rolls his eyes. "Laugh it up, Fern."

She snorts at that, and Callen and Sam both just look confused. Kensi grins, and looking at Sam, says, "Comfy?"

He scowls. "Not really. You could have offered to sit next to your boy here."

"And your partner could have sat there too," she shrugs, "Guess he just likes me more than Deeks."

Callen smirks. "No comment."

"Not feeling the love here, guys." Deeks tries to pout, but they can all see that he thinks it's funny.

Kensi gives him a soft smile, and he nods in return before saying, "Not that we aren't happy to see you guys, but how did you know where we were…"

"And why were you looking for us?" Kensi finishes for him.

He grins and reaches out to take her hand again. Sam rolls his eyes, and he stands up, motioning to Deeks. "Out, lover boy."

After exchanging a confused look with Kensi, Deeks slides out of the booth. Sam turns to Callen. "You, in."

Callen looks like he's going to argue, but instead, he just sighs and shrugs, moving over and taking Deeks' former place. Deeks gets the message and sits next to Kensi, and Sam slides in next to Callen. The waitress comes with their food then, and Callen and Sam both get coffee.

As Kensi and Deeks tuck into their breakfasts, Callen offers, "We had Eric ping your phones when we saw that Kensi's car wasn't at her place or yours."

Kensi swallows the bacon she was chewing on. She sees Callen eyeing one of the pieces, and she rolls her eyes and motions to it. He grabs it, and Kensi asks, "OK. Creepy, but fine."

Deeks offers Sam some of his fruit, and Sam grabs a handful of grapes as Deeks asks, "And why?"

Callen frowns. "Hetty."

Feeling Kensi tense next to him, he slips his hand under the table and finds hers. "Right here, remember?"

Sam and Callen clearly both notice, and after they have a silent conversation of their own, Sam finally huffs out a breath and says, "She's back, but Granger told us she's been on suspension the last two weeks. And beyond that, while she's 'back,' her job won't be what it was."

"What does that mean?" Kensi's voice is a little weak, but she squeezes Deeks' hand to let him know she's OK.

"We aren't quite sure," Callen answers this time, "Except that Granger is apparently mostly permanently stationed here with us, and that Hetty's role will, his words, 'not involve any sort of control over operations or personnel.'"

Deeks furrows his brow. "They're benching her."

Sam nods. "Yes. They are. And judging by the fact that you two don't seem all that surprised and the fact that Eric and Nell both took it in stride too, there is something we don't know."

"We want the full download. I think you two already have it." Callen's voice is firm but not unkind, and his eyes are on Kensi.

Deeks wraps a protective arm around her. "You or me, Princess?"

"Me," she says, surprising him. With that, clinging to his hand the whole time, she tells Callen and Sam everything about Afghanistan, from Hetty knowing Jack to her lying to Kensi about a possible mole. The only thing she doesn't share is what happened with Deeks, Makar and the cleric. No one will ever hear that story from her, and she knows it's not something he'll likely ever want anyone else to know.

By the end of it all, Sam is bristling with anger just as Deeks had been, and Callen looks a little shell-shocked. Kensi lets go of Deeks' hand and reaches towards Callen. "Callen?" her voice is hesitant, "I'm sorry, I wish she hadn't done what she did, but I don't know if I can…"

He reaches out and takes her hand. "Don't apologize, Kens. You didn't do anything wrong. Hetty did. I've overlooked a lot. I can't overlook this. Before it was just me being manipulated, but I always felt like, in the end, her number one priority was the team. This blows that theory out of the water. This abused all of our trust."

Callen and Sam exchange another glance, and then Sam looks from Deeks to Kensi. "Whatever you two want to do, we have your backs. Eric and Nell do too."

Kensi gets tears in her eyes as she looks at the two men she considers to be her big brothers. After a moment, she looks up at Deeks. He leans forward and presses his forehead to hers. "Up to you, Fern. Remember, where you go, I go. That's how we roll."

She closes her eyes, and after a moment, she takes a deep breath and opens them again, looking first at Deeks and then at Sam and Callen. "It depends on her, and it depends on what her role is. I don't know if I can ever fully trust her again, but if you guys are there, I know we'll all be OK. And you should know the same."

Deeks nods. "You have our backs, we have yours."

Sam stands up. "Then let's go call her on her shit."

Callen follows him. "Damned right."

Kensi and Deeks both blink in surprise at the anger she sees on both Sam and Callen's faces, but there's also something oddly heartwarming about it. Deeks drops some cash on the table for their breakfasts and coffee. As they all walk towards the parking lot, Kensi asks, "So, you guys really have our backs? In anything?"

"Of course we do, Kens." Callen is emphatic and Sam nods.

Kensi shoots Deeks a grin, and he realizes that she just cornered them perfectly. He takes it from there. "Great. Then we'll see you guys at nine on Saturday morning at Kensi's place."

The two senior agents exchange a confused look. "Why?" Callen asks, his voice suspicious.

Kensi leans up and presses a kiss to his cheek. "You're helping us pack up my stuff and move my furniture to storage."

"What?" Sam freezes.

"I'm moving in with Marty. Thanks in advance for your help, guys." She gives them an angelic smile before she and Deeks jump in the SRX and head for the mission.

Standing in the parking lot of the diner, Sam looks at Callen. "We just got played, G."

Callen looks annoyed for a moment, but then he shrugs before getting in the car. "Didn't think they had it in them. Our kids are growing up, aren't they?" Sam just chuckles at that and gets in, and they follow the younger pair back to the mission, glad for the moment of levity before what will likely be a fairly long, unpleasant day.

Kensi and Deeks are waiting for them when they get to the mission, and the four of them walk in together. As they enter, Granger is coming down the stairs from ops, and instead of the admonition Deeks was expecting, the man gives them a wry smile (as is his custom), and he motions with his head towards the gym.

They turn and head that way, Granger behind them. When they get into the gym, Granger says, "Figured you two would be back," he gestures to Sam and Callen, "With these two in tow."

Callen crosses his arms over his chest, and they all let him assume his team leader role. "What is really going on, Granger?"

He doesn't bother with niceties, but Granger clearly isn't bothered by it. "As I told you earlier, Henrietta has been on full suspension for two weeks, as NCIS in DC was investigating the recent action in Afghanistan. I'm sure these two," he motions to Kensi and Deeks, "Have now shared that she withheld critical intel from both myself and Agent Blye in order to achieve her objective of protecting Jack Simon. She also had Agent Blye on a wild goose chase for a non-existent mole, wasting time and effort and potentially endangering herself and Agent Sabatino."

They all nod, and Kensi feels bad, because Callen's face is pale. It was one thing having her and Deeks tell him this – it's another thing entirely to have it spelled out so matter-of-factly by Granger. They all go quiet, and it's Deeks who finally asks, "So, what's next?"

"As I'm sure Agents Callen and Hanna told you, Henrietta's role here will be changing. We've let her have her little kingdom for far too long. In the end, I believe it's part of why she felt so free to take liberties. She is going to be here for tactical and operational support and planning, but Agent Callen," Granger turns to Callen, "You will report directly to me. Henrietta is now a consultant, welcome to stay until she chooses to retire. But all final personnel and operational decisions are mine. And before you ask, when I have to be traveling, _you_, Agent Callen, will have charge of the office."

"What if I need to be in the field?" Callen protests, "We know that three doesn't work well."

"Jones is finishing her field training, and I think she's proven pretty capable. I trust you four to sort out who to partner her with when needed." Granger looks at all of them in turn. "Any questions?"

They all shake their heads, and Granger's eyes land on Kensi. "Agent Blye, I assume you'd like to have words with Henrietta."

It's not phrased as a question, but Kensi responds, "Yes, I would, Director. But honestly, I think all four of us would like to talk to her together."

"She may not be OK with that." Granger looks at her with a critical eye.

"All due respect, sir, but I don't give a flying rat's ass what she is OK with. I _will_ walk away from here. I can be done right now. I will not work in the same building with her if she can't even muster the gumption to look us in the eye and apologize." Kensi eyes blaze, and Deeks drops a hand to her lower back.

"And to be clear, Director, if Kensi walks, so do I. Maybe the shortest tenure in OSP history." Deeks eyes Granger, daring him to doubt their sincerity.

"Me too." Sam nods.

Granger looks at Callen, and Deeks and Kensi find themselves holding their breath. Callen furrows his brow, but he also nods. "All for one, and one for all, Granger. We're done being pawns in her game, whatever the game actually is. We're not playing anymore."

"Indeed, you should not be, Mr. Callen."

They all turn in surprise at the sound of Hetty's voice. Granger gives them all a nod and turns to go, but not before looking at Hetty and saying, "The truth, Henrietta. That's what you owe them. Nothing less."

They all look at each other in surprise when Hetty merely inclines her head in apparent agreement. Kensi stares at the small woman, her hand automatically seeking Deeks' hand. Hetty looks much as she always does, tailored suit and pin, hair impeccable. But Kensi can see fatigue in her eyes and posture.

Hetty waits for the door to close, signaling Granger's exit, and then she says, "In my life, there has been very little that I regret more than I regret the events of the last seven months. In my fervor to protect a person I call a friend, I neglected to protect all of you. Words cannot begin to express my sincere contrition."

Kensi is surprised by the intense flash of anger she feels. "Damn it, Hetty, I didn't need you to _protect_ me. I can protect _myself._ What I needed, what _we_ needed," she gestures to Deeks, Sam and Callen with her free hand, "Was the truth. We needed you to trust us. For years, we have bent over backwards for you, even quitting our jobs to come after you in Prague – yet another example of you not trusting us enough to tell us the truth."

Hetty starts to say something, but Callen, surprising them all, is the one to cut her off. "Hetty, if you're going to do _anything_ other than agree with Kensi and apologize for what you _actually did wrong_, save it. Kensi is right. We've proven repeatedly that we'll do pretty much anything for you, but when you needed something here, you just took it. You didn't ask, you didn't tell us the truth about what you needed done – you just sent Kensi off alone on a bogus mission, sent her off with no back-up or real support, to end up face to face with the man who abandoned her – you in fact _relied _on that happening, to suit your ends."

Deeks picks it up from there, "And you let me feel like it was all _my _fault that she was sent away. You didn't give a damn that I was drowning, and you didn't give a damn that she probably was too," he pauses, "And don't try to say anything about the sat phone. That was the _least_ you could do. That in no way makes up for everything else. It doesn't even come close."

Hetty looks stunned, maybe the first time any of them have seen her that way. She clears her throat. "And Mr. Hanna, your thoughts?"

Sam gives her a hard look. "They all said it. I'm with them, behind them, one hundred percent, which, based on everything I've heard today, is clearly more than I can say for you."

Hetty looks down for a moment before looking up at them again. "You're all correct. I acted selfishly and thoughtlessly. All I can do is apologize and hope that I can make it up to all of you. I hope you all will stay so that I can have that opportunity."

Callen speaks up this time. "That's Kensi's call."

Kensi swallows hard, and she feels Deeks squeeze her hand. She looks at Hetty. "We'll stay, but I'm fairly certain I'll never take a direct order from you again, Hetty. And don't even try to get in my good graces. You have a near-unimaginable amount of ground to make up. I'm doubtful that you'll be able to."

"I understand, Miss Blye, but I am glad that you all will be staying." She inclines her head again, and she turns to leave. As her small form retreats, Kensi steps closer to Deeks, and he envelopes her in a tight hug.

"You did great, Fern. You did great." She nods against his shoulder, and Sam and Callen both pat Kensi's arm before going out to the bullpen.

"Callen, wait." Kensi stops him. She approaches him and hugs him close. "I'm sorry, I know what she means to you."

He hugs her back. "Kens, I told you earlier not to apologize. I just hope we all eventually can find a way to forgive her, even if we never trust her completely again."

Nodding, she releases him. She can see Sam watching them with a soft expression on his face, and she smiles at him before looking back at Callen. "I am going to try, Callen. Just…not today."

"I get that, Kens. To tell you the truth, I'm not trying today either." He looks back at Sam and then at Deeks. "Early dinner tonight? I could use a stiff drink and some seafood, preferably somewhere with a view of the ocean."

"Can we bring Eric and Nell too?" Kensi asks, as Deeks comes over and wraps his arms around her waist from behind.

Callen grins. "Wouldn't dream of leaving them out."

She frowns briefly. "But not Granger."

Sam comes back as he barks out a laugh. "Just because we don't totally despise him anymore doesn't mean we want to drink scotch with him."

"Amen," Deeks agrees. With that, Sam and Callen leave, both with one last squeeze to her shoulder.

Deeks steps back from her and she turns to look up at him. "You OK?"

She wipes at her eyes. "Yes. Amazingly, yes."

"Then how about we go work, Kensalina. At a minimum, I bet we both need to write up some reports on our daring rescue of our senior agents." He smiles down at her.

She sniffles a little and nods. "Sounds good to me."

Before she can turn to go, he reaches out and cups her cheek in his palm, pulling her close to him and pressing his lips gently to hers. She steps close to him, melting into his kiss. A moment later, they separate slightly. He murmurs, "I love you so much, Fern. More than that, though, today, I'm also damned proud of you. I know that was hard."

She sniffles again. "I love you too, but you know, with you there with me, it wasn't so hard." She smiles. "That was really cheesy, wasn't it?"

He laughs and reaches up to brush away the tears lingering on her lashes. "Little bit. But that's OK. In case you hadn't noticed, I kind of dig cheesy."

She leans up and kisses him again. "How silly of me. How could I possibly forget that?" He wraps an arm around her, and they walk towards the door to the gym. "Marty? We're all going to be OK, aren't we?"

He's surprised but happy at the confidence he hears behind the question. He leans down and kisses her temple. "I believe we are, Kensalina."

"By the way, I need at least a few drawers cleaned out. And half of the closet. And you need to make room for my DVDs." She makes the list as they walk, ticking the items off on her fingers.

He laughs out loud as he opens the door. "Fern, tell you what, if you agree to spend the first weekend we spend together after you move in wearing nothing but one of my LAPD t-shirts and a smile, I'll give you whatever you want."

They walk to the bullpen while she laughs too, playfully batting him on the arm and then immediately blushing and uttering an expletive. She hangs her head. "We gotta get that jar set up."

He uses two fingers to tip her face up to his before leaning down and kissing her again. "I'm looking forward to that dinner you're going to buy me, Princess."

"Damn, Deeks, no, I do not want to watch you two kiss!" Sam's voice makes them both jump.

"No kidding. And keep your damned hands to yourself. This is an office, not a bar." Callen frowns at them.

Kensi and Deeks both just laugh as they go to their desks. Deeks' face lights up. "Kens, you realize he just basically told me I can get handsy if we go to a bar tonight, right?"

She grins. "I believe he did. Can't wait for tonight!"

Deeks grins as Sam groans and Callen splutters in protest. His eyes meet Kensi's across the bullpen, and the look they exchange tells him they're both thinking the same thing. They're all going to be all right, and their Thing is going to be just fine.


End file.
